Prolific Inventor Drops Counterclaim in Valve Patent Dispute

Valve Corp. dodged a prolific inventor’s counterclaim after a federal judge dismissed the patent infringement allegation concerning a method for a cloud-based system.

Inventor Leigh Rothschild and affiliated entities requested the dismissal of their allegation that Valve infringed US Patent No 8,856,221 in light of discovery-related evidence, according to Judge Jamal N. Whitehead’s order filed Monday in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Valve sued Rothschild and several affiliates in July 2023, saying they made bad-faith patent infringement allegations in violation of Washington state’s Patent Troll Prevention Act. The software company accused them of threatening litigation ...