Valve Corporation “href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/valve/ “> Valve missed the first patent jury trial to be conducted remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The trial, which saw Valve’s lawyers and plaintiff Ironburg Inventions giving evidence at various locations via Zoom, began in late January.
Ironburg claimed that Valve, maker of Half-Life and Portal, was notified in 2014 that a prototype of Steam “href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/pc/steam/ “> Steam Controller was shown the CES fair featured the same recently patented rear controls.
The patent, for additional controls on the back of a pad to be operated by the user’s middle fingers, would later be licensed by Xbox Game Studios (Microsoft) “href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/ “> Microsoft for use on your Xbox” href = “https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/”> Xbox Elite controllers, which have rear paddles.
Despite the warning, Valve released its controller and reportedly sold 1.6 million units before the product was discontinued in 2019.
“Valve knew that its conduct involved an irrational risk of violation, but it simply started to infringe anyway – the classic story of David and Goliath: Goliath does what Goliath wants,” argued Ironburg attorney Robert Becker.
Valve claimed that there was no infringement, but the jury decided otherwise and Ironburg received $ 4 million in damages, reports Law.com.
Although the award is in the lower range of the damage range sought by Ironburg, the possibility of improvement remains, as the judges decided that Valve violated the patent deliberately.
In January, the European Commission fined Valve and five Steam game publishers € 7.8 million ($ 9.4 million) for anti-consumer geo-blocking practices, which restrict access to country-based content or products. where the person is.