Scuf Gaming, owned by peripheral manufacturer Corsair, has just won a battle against Valve. A court has just found Valve guilty of patent infringement, and has ordered them to pay Scuf $4 million dollars in damages following a lawsuit. According to Scuf, Valve knowingly infringed on the former's patent regarding controller paddles on the back of the Steam Controller, and released it, despite being previously warned of said infringement. In a comment to the jury, a lawyer representing Scuf stated, "Valve did know that its conduct involved an unreasonable risk of infringement, but it simply proceeded to infringe anyway — the classic David and Goliath story: Goliath does what Goliath wants to do,". Each of the jurors was provided a Steam Controller, which was mailed out in order to best show them the proof of Valve's intent to copy the patented design.

Concerned by the Steam Controller's incorporation of rear-side controls, Ironmonger informed Valve staffers at the show about the soon-to-issue patent, and then wrote a letter to Valve that March, explaining Ironburg's belief that the rear controls were an infringement of a patent with which "Ironburg really created a new category of controllers," Becker said.

The extra controls allowed gamers to ratchet up their speed and control by using a finger besides the thumb and index finger. Microsoft licensed the patent and now uses rear buttons on performance Xbox controllers that cost upwards of $150 apiece, he said.

Valve's lawyer, though, suggested Ironburg was fighting an information war set in an alternate universe.

"Ironburg's case will be based on altered graphics, modified pictures, and skewed viewing angles ... and then they'll ask you to make that decision based on an altered reality," Valve lawyer Trent Webb of Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP said.

He said the rear features on the Steam Controller didn't fit the outlines of the patent, which calls for "resilient" back members that are "elongate" and "extend substantially the full distance" from the controller's top to its bottom along an area that, on the Steam Controller, melds into the battery cover.

Source

 

[Xzi]

"Patent troll" has a real meaning, which is companies that acquire patents with no intent of using them, just for the purpose of litigation.

Or they file extremely vague and generalized patents which shouldn't be allowed in the first place. They're basically claiming ownership over the concept of all plastic paddles, regardless of size, shape, location, or function.

 

[Edgarska]

Or they file extremely vague and generalized patents which shouldn't be allowed in the first place. They're basically claiming ownership over the concept of all plastic paddles, regardless of size, shape, location, or function.

That is not what they're claiming at all, you can read the patent by googling "U.S. Patent No. 8,641,525."

 

[Deleted User]

Or they file extremely vague and generalized patents which shouldn't be allowed in the first place. They're basically claiming ownership over the concept of all plastic paddles, regardless of size, shape, location, or function.

That´s like the whole thing with Pixar and them believing to own everything computer generated.
Like the Unirally lawsuit:
"They took footage from Red's Dream and compared it to Unirally and the unicycles were virtually the same; this isn't a big surprise as there’s not a lot of ways you can bring life to a unicycle without looking like the one Pixar did."

 

[Xzi]

That is not what they're claiming at all, you can read the patent by googling "U.S. Patent No. 8,641,525."

Yeah the text description is kept intentionally vague, and the illustrations make it appear as though what they've patented is elongated triggers that run down the back of the controller. Meaning the design of neither the XB1 Elite controller nor the Steam controller match up with it.

 

[MasterJ360]

lol no wonder it was dirt cheap on sale. I got 1 for like $10.

 

[Edgarska]

Yeah the text description is kept intentionally vague, and the illustrations make it appear as though what they've patented is elongated triggers that run down the back of the controller. Meaning the design of neither the XB1 Elite controller nor the Steam controller match up with it.

You said "They're basically claiming ownership over the concept of all plastic paddles, regardless of size, shape, location, or function.", which is not true, since the patent only covers paddles on the back of a controller.

You can argue against whether that should be allowed, which I would agree with, since it's stupid that you can patent something as simple as that, but there's no need to lie about it to get a point across.

 

[Kioku]

SCUF was awarded a cool 4 million? For what? Extra buttons? Or are they really so petty they patented paddles? Cool... Hope they put that money toward RnD and figure out why their controllers are such shit they quit working or the paddles break (lol) within the first year.

 

[Xzi]

You said "They're basically claiming ownership over the concept of all plastic paddles, regardless of size, shape, location, or function.", which is not true, since the patent only covers paddles on the back of a controller.

To some extent I was being hyperbolic, obviously there are only so many places on a controller you could put paddles and actually have them be useful. Any change to the design regarding size, shape, or orientation should be enough to sidestep this patent though, and certainly making the paddles a single piece and a part of the battery cover (as Valve did with the Steam controller) should be enough to regard it as a separate product entirely. None of that is mentioned in the patent.

If I had to guess, $4 million is more money than Scuf has made off of their own original controllers since their inception. Meaning their primary source of income is now patent trolling, rather than selling worthwhile products.

 

[DKB]

probably made less than 400 dollars from sales for that piece of shit lol

 

[raxadian]

Funny how they do this a year after they discontinue the steam controller

Lawsuits take a lot of time when it involves big companies unless they quickly go for a settlement out of court.

 

[smf]

"Patent troll" has a real meaning, which is companies that acquire patents with no intent of using them, just for the purpose of litigation.
If you read the case, they actually licensed their patent to other companies, which is why Microsoft has those paddles on the Xbox elite controllers, because they paid for them.
Valve was apparently warned about it in 2014, and chose to keep selling their controller.

Patent trolls license patents, they only sue if you don't license it.

In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or contribution to the prior art

 

[MaxiBash]

I've seen very mixed reception about the Steam controller. What even is up with this controller?

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

You love to see that awful company getting owned. Even if it's peanuts to them. Suck it Valve, you stink.

Also, is this why Xbox Elite controllers are a ridiculous amount? Like $120? They need to pay this dude 20% or something for every one sold so they slap another $20 onto the price.

 

[Jayro]

And to supplement that cost, they're going to drop the Valve Index 2, starting at $2,000 USD (Likely).

 

[FAST6191]

Anyway took a second to find the numbers (I know it was mentioned in the replies but eh)
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...l-for-allegedly-infringing-controller-patents says 8,641,525
So
https://www.freepatentsonline.com/8641525.html and attached here.
That was dry and obtuse even by patent standards. All in service of something I would have said was all kinds of obvious. "more inputs helps in games but we only have so many fingers" *designer looks at controller* "it's all thumbs" "those middle fingers are flapping in the breeze so make something that works for that".
Maybe put it at an angle your fingers naturally rest is not obvious to anybody with not even 20 minutes of training in ergonomics training and I am overestimating things.

Prior art is a bit thinner. Still here is a 2001 joystick with a little/pinkie finger activated button.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/joysticks-flight-simulation,386-10.html
Comes as a two piece setup so still used by both hands simultaneously.

But yeah still not liking the US take on patents.

That said looking around at various mobile phone controllers (see "six finger controller" and "PUBG controller" in image searches) then with this patent seeming surviving what I can only imagine was a world class onslaught from Valve to destroy it we might be seeing some fun.

I've seen very mixed reception about the Steam controller. What even is up with this controller?

That is the subject of many discussions.
Its most notable deviation from being just another third party twin sticks controller was to do away with the sticks and instead have somewhat scifi themed flexible pads to act as analogues.
Some reckon that was the next step in controller design (unlike the dead end that was motion controls of that era) and superior to the twin sticks approach once you got the hang of it, some nuts types reckon it could even have beaten keyboard and mouse if not in precision then in being more realistic for certain things.
Others reckon it was at best an interesting idea but generally inferior to sticks and thus why bother when you have (at the time) 360 pads being all the rage and today whatever it is the kids are using (seemingly PS4 controllers on the phones) that everybody already knows, likes and understands.
It has since gained a bit of a cult following, and much like people would figure out how to make games widescreen/high res ( https://www.wsgf.org/mgl ) in years past they now make control schemes, mods and more to allow steam controllers to work even better with games (though I will just link https://alia5.github.io/GloSC/ instead because the open source loving Valve that would never ever do anything that troubles your PC gaming experience decided not to make it work with basic control methods).

 

[Bl4aze]

There should just be a class action lawsuit for anyone who was forced to use this pain

 

[Bladexdsl]

gabe would have been "oh i'll just get that out of my wallet here you go done" than walks out of the room twirling a cane

 

[EvilJagaGenius]

It's a pity, this probably doesn't encourage Valve to return to the Steam Controller and try and make a better one. I would've loved to see an improved version.

 

[Deleted member 397813]

imagine not only making a shitty controller, but also losing 4 million in the process

 

[Veho]

Okay so this is SCUF's gamepad and this is the Steam controller and Scuf's patent boils down to "we know controllers have buttons, but what if, now bear with me, more buttons?" but in legalese, and the US patent law is fucked up.