Valve to pay $4 million in damages over Steam Controller patent infringement

SCUF Gaming has won a patent infringement case against Valve, forcing Valve to pay $4 million for infringing the patents of the smaller company despite warnings. 

Valve’s “intentional disregard” for SCUF Gaming’s patents were at the heart of the case, with lawyers calling the case “the classic David and Goliath story”. Lawyers claimed that “Goliath does what Goliath wants to do”, referring to Valve’s decision to ignore the warnings of Ironberg Inventions (SCUF Gaming’s parent company) when they warned Valve about Ironberg’s patents in 2014; after Valve had first showcased its early Steam controller prototypes. 

Ironberg Invention’s patent was related to the back paddle buttons on Valve’s Steam controller, a critical feature of Valve’s Steam controller. Valve ignored the warnings of Ironberg Inventions and went on to sell over 1.6 million Steam controllers before they were discontinued in 2019. SCUF Gaming and Ironberg Inventions have been awarded $4 million in damages, with the jury finding that Valve wilfully infringed on Ironberg’s patents. 

In this case, the jury’s verdict of willful infringement opens Valve towards further damage payments, as the company is seen to have intentionally infringed on SCUF Gaming’s patents. 

Below is a comment from Corsair, the company who now owns SCUF Gaming and Ironberg Inventions as subsidiaries;