valveThe game developer and publisher that also heads PC game distribution platform Steam has won a lawsuit against Leigh Rothschild & Company. One of the most respected organizations in gaming, Valve has been responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed properties in the industry since its founding in 1996.
Includes Valve's litany of popular franchises half life, Team Fortress, Left 4 deadand Portal. The company has also made it public dota 2, A fan-made sequel to the 2003 title Defense of the Ancients which helped popularize the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) subgenre. In addition to its development and publishing work, Valve is also the company behind Steam, the incredibly successful PC game distribution platform. Valve has also produced a wide range of hardware devices since its inception, including the company's portable Steam Deck, which allows players to enjoy a large portion of their Steam library through a handheld device. The upcoming Steam Machine promises to bring a similar experience to living rooms, giving players the option of playing their PC titles in the living room via a Steam-based home console.
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Valve has won a lawsuit against Leigh Rothschild
Valve has experienced a major victory in its 2023 lawsuit against Leigh Rothschild, his attorneys and their related companies. According to court documents in the case, a judge found Rothschild and the company violated both Washington's Patent Troll Prevention Act and its Consumer Protection Act, while breaching the contract against Valve. The lawsuit, centered around patent US8856221B2, comes after years of intense legal action between the two organizations, and Valve's success could set a major precedent for other businesses in similar court cases.
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Rothschild, an inventor and head of a host of companies, has many patents, both granted and pending. The patent in question, US8856221B2, is listed as “System and method for storing broadcast content in a cloud-based computing environment.” In 2016, Valve entered into an agreement with Leigh Rothschild and Rothschild Broadcast Distribution Systems (RBDS), his company, and the holder of that patent. Despite holding a “perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, worldwide license” to this patent and others held by Rothschild, Valve was sued by Rothschild in 2022 for patent infringement. Rothschild again took legal action against the creator of the Steam deck, specifically focusing on another Valve 2. of its US8856221B2 patent.
Valve responded to this legal action by filing its own lawsuit against Rothschild itself, RBDS, and several of his other companies, attorney Samuel Mailer and Mailer Legal LLC. The lawsuit alleges that Rothschild, his attorneys and affiliates acted in bad faith in taking legal action against Valve, with a judge ruling in the developer's favor on each claim. The decision sets a new precedent in legal action taken over patents, as Valve took major action against not only RBDS but Rothschild himself, accusing several of his companies of acting as “alter egos” for the inventor. This violation of the Washington Patent Troll Prevention and Consumer Protection Act focuses on the person responsible, preventing the focus on any Rothschild-owned “shell” company.
The ruling could allow other companies to more effectively target “patent trolls” — individuals or businesses who hold multiple patents without intending to use them, but instead profit by taking bad-faith legal action against those who use their patented methods and technologies. With patents playing such a big role in the gaming world, it can protect the industry from these clever people who just want to capitalize on the work of others.
Source: PC Gamer
