Valve loses in patent dispute over its Steam Controller
In January, Valve was taken to court by Ironburg Inventions, which is behind the Scuf controls, when Valve according to them infringed patents. The patent in question was filed in 2011 and is about buttons on the underside of the control that can give users access to more buttons on the control without having to lift their thumbs. Ironburg has licensed the patent to other companies, such as Microsoft, which used such buttons on the Xbox Elite controller, but Valve seemed to think that they did not have to pay any license fee to have buttons on the back of the Steam Controller.
Now a jury has ruled that Ironburg is right in the matter and Valve must pay $ 4 million for its patent infringement. The jury also points out that Valve deliberately committed this patent infringement, which may lead to an increase in the amount.
