Tech accessory company dbrand has canceled its Steam Machine Companion Cube enclosure effective immediately because it didn't ask Valve for permission to make it in the first place.
Dbrand made a Companion Cube enclosure for Valve’s new console. Valve owns the copyright for the Companion Cube, since it is from one of the games they made. Valve sent a cease & desist to dbrand, for infringing on their copyright. Valve could absolutely make a Companion Cube enclosure of their own, if they wanted to. Hell, they could even make a Companion Cube edition of their console, so the enclosure is redundant.
Dbrand wasn’t doing anything notable with their enclosure, except that they were the first ones to announce it. But it is a clear violation of Valve’s copyright, and Dbrand didn’t even bother checking with Valve ahead of time to form a partnership contract. If Dbrand wanted to do things properly, that would have been step 0. But they just skipped it entirely, and started selling directly to customers. So naturally, Valve slapped them.
Dbrand made a Companion Cube enclosure for Valve’s new console. Valve owns the copyright for the Companion Cube, since it is from one of the games they made. Valve sent a cease & desist to dbrand, for infringing on their copyright. Valve could absolutely make a Companion Cube enclosure of their own, if they wanted to. Hell, they could even make a Companion Cube edition of their console, so the enclosure is redundant.
Dbrand wasn’t doing anything notable with their enclosure, except that they were the first ones to announce it. But it is a clear violation of Valve’s copyright, and Dbrand didn’t even bother checking with Valve ahead of time to form a partnership contract. If Dbrand wanted to do things properly, that would have been step 0. But they just skipped it entirely, and started selling directly to customers. So naturally, Valve slapped them.
Wow, that does seem really stupid them. I thought maybe they came up with a great new look or something, but no, lol.