Haptics technology company Immersion Corporation is suing Valve for allegedly infringing on several of its patents. In its lawsuit that was filed in the Washington district court, Immersion claims that the touchscreen technology used in the Steam Deck and Valve Index breached seven of its patents related to tactile sensations, vibrotactile feedback, and more.
“While we are pleased to see that Valve recognizes the value of haptics and has adopted our haptic technology in its handheld video game and AR/VR systems as part of its effort to generate revenue streams through the sales of hardware, games, and other virtual assets, and advertisements, it is important for us to protect our business against infringement of our intellectual property to preserve the investments that we have made in our technology,” said Immersion CEO Eric Singer (via PC Gamer).
Immersion is looking to protect its patents from further infringement, and more importantly, “recover a reasonable royalty ” for Valve’s alleged transgressions. As PC Gamer noted, Immersion has a litigious history that took off in the 2000s, as the company claims to own over 1,650 patents related to haptics and has taken Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Facebook parent company Meta to court.