BT, the telecoms giant, known primarily for its telephone and internet services, has sued the games developer Valve for infringement of four of its patents in the US.

The patents relate to the operation of cloud computing services, e.g. for gaming and video platforms, which Valve are alleged by BT to be using in their Steam service.  BT are obviously keen to protect their intellectual property and have a history of asserting patents in the US, previously having sued internet service providers for infringement of patents relating to hyperlinks (although BT lost this case).

It will be interesting to see how this case develops, as BT have filed the patent suit in the US state of Delaware which traditionally favours patent holders.  Valve are yet to respond to the allegations, and have until 19 September to do so.

“The technologies and features covered by the patents are widely used by many digital services, including another gaming platform Twitch as well as YouTube.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37242696