A court has ordered Valve to pay $ 4 million at the end of a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Ironburg Inventions over the design of the now defunct Steam Controller.
According to a report from Law.com (via VGC), a jury found Valve was infringing voluntarily infringing on a patent held by Ironburg Inventions through the design of the Steam Controller
In particular, the Steam Controller included a pair of buttons on its back that players could press with their fingers resting on the controller ‘s grip. Other regulators have allowed and introduced that capability, but the jury found that Valve used that concept for its Steam Controller without going through the right channels, and so on. the manner in which the Ironburg patent was infringed.
As pointed out by VGC, the Ironburg defense claimed that it had warned Valve about the patent shortly after the Steam Controller appeared in 2014, but “just ahead of breaking it anyway – the classic David story and Goliath: Goliath will do what Goliath wants her to do. “
The Steam Controller itself was discontinued in 2019 and, according to a lawsuit, sold about 1.6 million units during its lifetime. In addition to its broken rear buttons, the controller was defined by its two tactile handlebars that were used instead of the usual two-pronged positioning preferred by other controllers.