Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: Zenimax to Oculus: Misappropriation of Trade Secrets
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Zenimax has officially filed a lawsuit claiming 'misappropriation of trade secrets' against Oculus VR. Polygon ferreted out a copy of the filing that alleges Oculus "wrongfully taken ... ZeniMax['s] intellectual property and commercially exploited it for their own gain."
In the suit, ZeniMax officials say that the company has for many years invested "tens of millions of dollars" in research and development into, among other things, virtual reality and immersive technologies. Carmack, according to the suit, also conducted research to address technological issues associated with virtual reality.
Read the rest at the link above.
Comments
There is some funny facts here.Years and tens of millions then Carmack.I respect Carmack but he has not been with Zeni max that long.
The way it looks is yes maybe they did come to them to ask for help in promoting it,that is believable but does not warrant any law suit.It appears that the Zeni max side of things was for thEIR own personal gain,they wanted the Rift to be a better version for THEIR Doom game,that does NOT mean they were trying to invest into the technological advancements of Occulus Rift,just they wanted THEIR product to be better and more marketable.
I see this law suit being as vible as if Occulus sued Zeni for using the RIFT to help promote THEIR product"Doom BFG",which is EXACTLY what Zeni did.
Now the dead give away as to who is the liar.Does ANYONE believe for one second that IF Zeni invested multi millions in this field with NO product of their own would agree to a simple 2%?
No frigging way,if i developed as Zeni claims the majority of the technical side that makes the product viable i would not be asking for 2% but more like 50+%.
What this looks like is Zeni was jealous ,both sides tried to work a deal to SHARE in it all but Zeni was too greedy and it fell through.So then when Occulus Rift started to hire Zeni employees,Zeni's lawyers informed them there was a chance at a law suit.
The FACTS we do know is that there WAS a product ,the RIFT,weather it was fully viable is not fact but Zeni's opinion.We KNOW Zeni was using that so called non viable product to HELP promote the Doom BFG edition,so far i see it Zeni is the true culprit of using someone else's product to promote their own game.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I'm sure all the Armchair Lawyer's will be crawling on out of the woodwork.
One thing that I am sure of is:
That there isn't enough reliable information floating around the internet to make any kind of judgement or informed opinion that is worth a piece of poop.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Exactly... which makes Wizardry's post all the more hilarious.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
What resources?!
*badum tsss*
New players can get a welcome package and old/returning players can also get a welcome back package and 7 days free subscription time! Just click here to use my referral invitation
Throw this bullshit out and fine zenimax for misuse of the legal system.
They dont say a word when it gets kickstarted, becomes a sensation and only when facebook buys them they go after it? What an obvious money grab from an obviously immoral company.
Zenimax, the newest edition to my boycott list.
I hope OR losses, Karma for being the sellouts they are. Note, don't bring in consultants when they are still in the employ of a mutlimedia company....
I boycotted them after the first month of Eso. I dono about lawsuits, but ethier way it's just rich bastards so I could care less.
If there was really karma we would all be dead........
Sellouts...??? Are you really so delusional that you think that the money they got from the kickstarter would be enough to get them anywhere beyond the prototype stage...?
There was never a question that they would get bought... The question was just who would do it and in those kinds of deals the biggest checkbook always speak. (unless ofc the company is in the market of selling crack cocain to puppies)
The second part of the post is pretty sound advice on the other hand. Always make a iron-clad before bringing in consultants that potentially can be a violation of a non-competitor clause... Then again it is Carmac, i am pretty sure he thinks such petty things like the laws of men.. or gravity... apply to him. =P
This have been a good conversation
Gamer logic strikes with 10,000+ damage... ESO is one title, good or bad it doesn't equate an entire franchise as tarnished. BTW It is a multiplayer game....
Gotta love how one bad game ( if it is really bad) can bring a company down in such a way. TES games are some of the best RPG's around today IMO, I couldn't care less how ESO does, either way it won't change that.
Also gotta love VR fans running to defend OR sights unseen, facts unknown... Mostly fueled by the above reasoning I suspect, ZOS put out an MMO they didn't enjoy.
Now back to reality... Who knows who has a case or lack there of here, certainly no one here.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
You guys don't get out much do you? News almost a month old....
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/411735
What couldn't figure out how to get animated cleavage on the news ticker?
What if they have a legitimate complaint? Should they just lose on principle or something?
You make me like charity
Actually, that is from when they stated their intention to sue. It's hitting the circuit again today, and considered news, because they actually sued (filed the papers and such). Shit just got real, so to speak.
You make me like charity
Yeah, I have this feeling that Zeni will be able to solidly back some of those allegations, but not all. Which is why Occulus is saying no we wont budge.
Id almost bet it doesnt even get that far into litigation before they come to some kind of agreement.
"I understand that if I hear any more words come pouring out of your **** mouth, Ill have to eat every fucking chicken in this room."
Nevermind I retract my earlier statements MMORPG did carry the original story; musta missed it. http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/loadNews/31031
If they had a legitimate complaint they should have made it after the kickstarter (or during) or maybe when the grape vine started buzzing with the FB purchase...Not long after the purchase happens and the dust settles.
That was before ESO failed though, now they have investors with 'issues' to deal with. Money changes everything.
They were asking for compensation via a formal business agreement two days after the Kickstarter campaign started, which was pretty reasonable since according to the ZeniMax contract signed by Oculus, Oculus was not allowed to publicly use the hardware and software that they developed together without each others' consent, which Oculus did in the video for the Kickstarter campaign.