BT is suing Valve

A patent dispute has ended up with BT taking Steam owner Valve to court.

Kotaku reports that the lawsuit argues that Steam offers a broad range of products and services which incorporate technologies invented by BT” that include inter alia, Valve’s Steam Library, Valve’s Steam Chat, Valve’s Steam Messaging, and Valve’s Steam Broadcasting”.

Four patents are involved: The Gittens patent, which relates to accessing content from assorted sources through a single portal; The Newton patent, which seems to concern the simple act of downloading data; The Beddus patent, which centres on Steam’s messaging services; and the Buckley patent, that is linked to multi-user displays.

BT adds that it has been grumbling about the issue for nearly a year, and that Valve hasn’t acknowledged any of its concerns – which may be an indicator of how seriously it is taking BT’s complaints.