Dbrand Forced to Pull Steam Machine Companion Cube After IP Dispute With Valve
Quick Report
Accessory maker Dbrand announced it was forced to pull its "Companion Cube," a Steam Machine enclosure modeled after the Portal weighted companion cube storage box, following a cease-and-desist notice from Valve's legal team. The Companion Cube was the second-fastest-selling product in Dbrand's 15-year history after launching at 3am on June 22nd, but Valve immediately requested removal, citing that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property without a license for Dbrand to use.
According to Dbrand, the project represented seven months of development and over 1,000 hours of engineering work, resulting in 44 sets of injection molding tools being produced for each sub-component. The company had redesigned the entire product from scratch multiple times to ensure perfect fit with the Steam Machine and even rented a university campus to film the launch video. Despite these efforts, Dbrand acknowledged it failed to ask Valve for permission before development began and made a retroactive appeal for licensing, which Valve declined. Dbrand issued full refunds to all customers and praised Valve for being direct, fair, and respectful throughout the process.
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