Immersion Sues Valve Over Steam Deck Rumble Technology

Valve, the company behind Steam and the portable PC Steam Deck, is currently facing a lawsuit from a longstanding adversary from the technology sector, Immersion Corporation, over its utilization of the company's rumble technology.

As reported by The Verge, on May 15, Immersion filed a lawsuit with a federal court in Washington State accusing Valve of patent infringement concerning Steam Deck, the Valve Index VR headset, Steam VR software, and games such as Half-Life: Alyx.

In its legal pursuit, Immersion is seeking an injunction to prevent Valve "from deploying, operating, maintaining, testing and using the Accused Handheld Instrumentalities and Accused VR Instrumentalities." Additionally, Immersion is also seeking compensation in the form of damages and royalties. To support its claim, Immersion has referenced seven specific patents ranging from 2002 to 2016.

As of the current writing, Valve has not issued an official response to the lawsuit.

The influence of Immersion's work in haptic technology is so extensive that numerous prominent tech companies either license their technology or have faced similar patent lawsuits, most of which were resolved through out-of-court settlements.

According to The Verge, both Sony and Microsoft have previously encountered legal battles with Immersion, resulting in the need for licensing agreements. Furthermore, companies such as Google, Apple, and Meta have also confronted Immersion's legal representatives in different instances.

Based on past experiences, it is likely that Valve will follow a similar pattern and settle the lawsuit unless it becomes evident that the Steam Deck did not unintentionally violate Immersion's patents.

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