Zenimax claims Carmack stole tech for Oculus

[Slick]

"Lawyers for id Software's parent company, Zenimax Media, sent claims to Oculus VR stating, "It was only through the concerted efforts of Mr. Carmack, using technology developed over many years at, and owned by, ZeniMax, that [Oculus founder] Mr. Luckey was able to transform his garage-based pipe dream into a working reality."

 

Oculus denies Zenimax's claim. The company provided the following statement:

"It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent."

 

 

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/01/zenimax-claims-oculus-stole/?ncid=rss_truncated

[JLCitadel]

Probably used some things he's learned from other companies.. Of course everyone does. For him to outright take technology and utilize it in another company, I doubt it. I also doubt they would've waited this long to say something.

[beebskadoo]

Stold? Is that supposed to be sold or stole?

[Ssoele]

Stold? Is that supposed to be sold or stole?

 

Stole and sold?

[KakaoDj]

Oh god, the patent wars will come to VR  :unsure:

[Askew]

Zenimax vs Facebook in a legal battle, if this is true then maybe he liked those odds. :lol:

 

On a serious note though, it seems more like the use of data (code) owned by Zenimax that Carmack produced.

 

Could also be a scare tactic to try and bring forward a settlement deal, interesting situation as I see that ZeniMax has been attempting to work out a deal before, but the two companies didn't reach an agreement so maybe now bigger punches are being pulled.

[WiiManic]

This is going to be interesting, and the start of many more things like this.

VR is big and now a target, with Oculus leading it they are the main target.

On the plus side, having a company like Facebook owning them, its going to deter a huge amount of it, and when it does hit then its going to have the right people/money to help the cases.

 

I wonder what his actual contract with Zenimax was, and if it included anything about this sort of thing, and if he did use company time/resources on it.

Also wonder what this quote from the article could be talking about,

 

Further, Zenimax claims that Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey "acknowledged in writing" that certain, unspecified property belonged to Zenimax.

 

This could be something big for Oculus, depending on the contract John had, or what Palmer agreed, this could be completely legal and not just some random claim like we seem to get with a lot of other markets. (I'm looking at you Apple/Samsung)

[Slick]

Stold? Is that supposed to be sold or stole?

 

Stole and sold?

 

calm down now boys - d is close to e - everyone can go home now

[beebskadoo]

calm down now boys - d is close to e - everyone can go home now

I don't wanna go home though :-(

[Askew]

calm down now boys - d is close to e - everyone can go home now

 

I is close to U.

[brownninja97]

shit when slick reports something you know its serious

[Misanthrope]

Well if there was one guy who would just go fucking Rogue and start working on his own shit without notifying anybody Carmack certainly fits the bill: He likely started working on VR when he was in iD and didn't bother to take precautions, patents or not to do it in company time, etc. 

 

Either that or Zenimax probably saw The Social Network on Netflix recently and went "hmm, doesn't Carmack works for Facebook now? Let's try that"

[kuddlesworth9419]

Oh god, the patent wars will come to VR  :unsure:

Well Apple has already patented all VR headset technology with an incredibly vague drawing of a TV strapped to someones face. So I wouldn't be surprised if Apple sued Facebook and Occulus. 

[WanderingFool]

I think it is important to note that intellectual property doesn't necessarily mean patents.  When you write code, there are techniques that certain companies might implore, or methods to writing the code.  So what is considered I.P. (such as trade secrets) when you have an employee move to another company and brings expertise that might have been learned from another company.  It isn't like there is a one solution fits all in terms of programming, there are certain standards, but how you approach problems and solutions can change quite a bit from company to company....so I guess my real point is, this could be very muddy waters...if the company had "taught" John Carmack certain concepts (that only their company uses), then he used the same thought line to solve problems in the Oculus, does that constitute as bringing over trade secrets.

[Scionyde]

Let's cut Zenimax some slack here - ESO's probably not making them as much money as they hoped, so they have to make it back somewhere!

 

(Yeah, I know there's no formal lawsuit...yet)

[dragosudeki]

So selling their company to Facebook was probably the cause for this. Zenimax wants some from Facebook. 

[kuddlesworth9419]

If Carmack wrote some code for Zenimax and then left to go to Oculus and used that code for the oculus I could understand Zenimax claim. But that is only if that happened. Also if it means that Zenimax will make Fallout 4 is they win I don't care if Facebook has to give money to Zenimax. All I care about is Fallout 4 in this world.

[klotza1]

If it proceeds forward with litigation, i foresee a no win for Zenimax. Zuckerberg will drown them with the best lawyers money can buy. That kid just doesn't stop when he wants something, that much we know already...

[Poohy14]

I just seen this and my jaw dropped like, WAT??

[Lyons]

Something coming up this late in the Oculus development has to be a patent troll.

[coder-guy22296]

"Lawyers for id Software's parent company, Zenimax Media, sent claims to Oculus VR stating, "It was only through the concerted efforts of Mr. Carmack, using technology developed over many years at, and owned by, ZeniMax, that [Oculus founder] Mr. Luckey was able to transform his garage-based pipe dream into a working reality."

 

Oculus denies Zenimax's claim. The company provided the following statement:

"It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent."

 

 

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/01/zenimax-claims-oculus-stole/?ncid=rss_truncated

he posted to twitter, he used nothing he wrote there for oculus

[mr moose]

If zenimax can sue oculus because carmack used technology he derived from them,  then HP can sue apple because Wozniack built the first apple using the tech he gained while working for HP or Atari can sue too take your pick.