ZeniMax is taking OCULUS VR to court. If only Oculus had a rich backer.
We’ve reported before on ZeniMax being a bit pissed at some of their tech being ninja’d as John Carmack left the company for Oculus. Now they pissed. Talking court. Go ahead, ZeniMax. Take Oculus VR to court. Motherfuckers are owned by Facebook, which means to me that they’re pretty much comfortable sitting in a court room and farting on piles of cash for as long as it takes. But hey, I’ll bring the popcorn. Slap fight for a bit. The world is watching.
ZeniMax Media and its subsidiary, id Software, filed suit against Oculus VR and the company’s founder, Palmer Luckey, claiming that Oculus illegally misappropriated ZeniMax trade secrets and infringed on ZeniMax copyrights and trademarks while developing the Oculus Rift. ZeniMax filed the suit in federal court in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The suit claims that Oculus exploited ZeniMax IP, code and “technical know-how” (that is the technical term) regarding VR technology. ZeniMax said it gave Oculus “valuable intellectual property” under a strict NDA, and that Oculus illegally used its IP to create the Oculus Rift.
ZeniMax said it sought compensation from Oculus but was repeatedly denied. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that ZeniMax asked Oculus for compensation after developer John Carmack left ZeniMax to become Chief Technology Officer at Oculus VR. At the time, ZeniMax said in a statement, “The proprietary technology and know-how Mr. Carmack developed when he was a ZeniMax employee, and used by Oculus, are owned by ZeniMax.”
Carmack responded on Twitter with the following message: “No work I have ever done has been patented. ZeniMax owns the code that I wrote, but they don’t own VR.”
In today’s filing, ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman said, “Intellectual property forms the foundation of our business. We cannot ignore the unlawful exploitation of intellectual property that we develop and own, nor will we allow misappropriation and infringement to go unaddressed.” [Joystiq]
