From the reddit thread linked in the article:
Image text:
Degenerate_Media posted “you guys are fucking stupid, you know that?”
dbrand replied: “yes”
“They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which Dbrand does not have a license,” the post continues. "They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout.
"We took everything down and made an appeal. We asked Valve whether there was any way to keep the project alive: properly licensed, with their blessing, on their terms. They said no. Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer.
You should always check with the IP owner first aside… this does seem like an uncharacteristic move from valve. Like… black mesa existed as a mod for a while… crickets. They remade it in a new engine… crickets. They put it on sale on steam… and valve endorsed it. afaik they never asked permission… but even if they did it’s weird to have a team doing a fully 3rd party remake of a core game and being fully endorsed by the company.
But here you have someone well known, doing a skin essentially… that only works on the valve product… and valve has issue with THAT? odd.
My guess would be that Valve had plans to make one themselves. Maybe as sort of a second gen or limited release thing.
Maybe it’s also just not set a precedent. It is pretty crazy to make a product that uses such a famous piece of IP as a big company and not even asked for permission. It’s one thing if you’re like selling crafts on Etsy, but not even asking at that level is wild.
If someone at Valve hadn’t at least mocked up one as a faceplate a long time ago, I’d be amazed. Dbrands over-engineered full case probably makes their version look real disappointing even if it is likely more technically sound.
Realistically, it probably is the precedent, maybe combined with technical concerns like the thermals/RF/etc.
The weirdest part to me is that this wasn’t a surprise. As soon as valve announced the steam machine it seemed the same day this was announced along with it. They knew it was coming. Why not say something then?
How do you know they were aware of it?
I mean how could they not be? It was being shared literally everywhere previously as soon as it was announced. Someone from Valve had to have seen it, especially when they found it immediately upon launch and shut it down almost instantly. It was obviously on their radar
I didn’t know about it, so no, it wasn’t shared literally everywhere.
Yeah but it’s also not your product and your IP to monitor. That’s quite literally someone’s job there
Fair enough.
Maybe they have something of their own planned?
Valve has a history of hiring modders and making the mods official products (counter strike started as a Half Life mod). Black Mesa was originally a free mod, they then approached valve about selling it later, which Valve then approved. Had the devs not asked permission, Valve probably would’ve shut it down had they tried to sell it.
Black Mesa specifically did have Valve’s blessings. Valve did ask them to remove “Source” from the game’s title IIRC, but greenlit the release.
That is my point though. The original mod just showed up and was being worked on for years. No word from valve. Then they rebuilt into a new engine and wanted to sell it… and I figured that valve would get upset… but no they just gave their blessing and put it on steam. AFAIK crowbar never asked to make the mod or the full rebuild and only talked to them after the fact… and valve was like “sure… go for it”. That’s why this felt oddly different.
Very different because Crowbar Collective never intended to commercialize Black Mesa until Valve reached out to them and suggested doing so. This was monetized from step 1. I imagine Valve’s reaction would have been different if this was just free files for 3D printing for example.
well, there’s a pretty big difference between a mod and a manufactured product for people to buy. They also did ask for permission before actually selling it, which is an important step
People will still get their companion-cube-steam-machine cases, they’ll need to print them instead, when the Steam Machines start arriving the STL files will show up.
I think gaben is just sour that they didnt think of this and now theyre just pingu about it, missed opportunities and all
isn’t dbrand the guys who publically bragged about having “gotten ahold” of a pre-launch switch 2 and started showing peripherals before nintendo had even revealed it? it’s a pattern with them.
Tbh, I’m kinda surprised that Valve didn’t agree to work something out to build goodwill after the Steam Machine launch. I personally don’t think the SM’s price is too unreasonable, but it’s pretty obvious that a lot of people are disappointed, and this was an easy win
Mickey Mouse case next. It can’t possibly go wrong.
Steamboat Willie is public domain.
Perfect… SteamMachine Willie case confirmed.
Rectangular acquaintance cuboid
Valve has revoked the license for a CSGO mod they greenlit years ago, how would you expect them to respond if you don’t get permission at all?
I didn’t realize you had to get permission to make cases, so all those third party iphone cases have to have an agreement with apple?
The issue isn’t making a 3rd-party case for Valve’s hardware, it’s making that case resemble an object whose image was created by and is owned by Valve. the fact that Valve both makes the hardware and owns the image is coincidental
you can make an iPhone case without any issues from Apple, but you can’t make an iPhone case with images of Disney characters on it without permission from Disney
Yes, if they sport an Apple logo or any other IP not properly licensed.
The exterior dimensions of a smartphone are not IP.
I see, it’s over the art not the dimensions, thanks for explaining!
They can make a case, but they can’t make a case that profits off of property and designs that are owned by valve, which the companion cube is. The normal process would be to reach out to valve and request a license to produce it. Dbrand didn’t do that, and valve told them to stop.
Whether you agree with IP laws or not, this is how the laws currently function and dbrand has to know that. So this was a really stupid blunder for them to make.
This is the 2nd time they have done this in 5 years. First was ps5 cases in 2021. They changed the design enough to invalidate ip theft and relaunched.
They absolutely know what they are doing.
It’s not the case that’s the problem, it’s the trademarked IP.
