Oculus ZeniMax Battle Goes To Court

Earlier this month a lot of buzz was generated by comments that ZeniMax made. The company is the former employer of Oculus CTO John Carmack and claims that the “know-how” and proprietary technology that Carmack developed as its employee is now being used by Oculus. Oculus responded to the claim by clarifying that it didn’t take any intellectual property from ZeniMax and that it will prove all of the claims wrong. ZeniMax announced today that they’ve filed a lawsuit against Oculus, which means that this battle is now going to court.

In a press release ZeniMax says that the suit has been filed against Oculus VR, Inc. and Palmer Luckey, its founder, “for illegally misappropriating ZeniMax trade secrets relating to virtual reality technology, and infringing ZeniMax copyrights and trademarks.”

The company also claims that its intellectual property is the source of the fundamental technology that has driven Oculus Rift since its very inception. It also says that Oculus turned down all requests from ZeniMax for “reasonable compensation” and continues to use the intellectual property without authorization.

Oculus hasn’t commented on the lawsuit as yet. In its last statement the company reiterated that they haven’t stolen any code or technology and even claimed that ZeniMax didn’t pursue any claims for intellectual property prior to the acquisition deal with Facebook. ZeniMax is believed to have asked for compensation previously through equity ownership which Oculus reportedly denied. Facebook is acquiring Oculus for $2 billion.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: oculus