Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the can't-we-all-just-get-along? dept.

A month after Oculus was ordered to pay ZeniMax Media $500 million for infringement and trade secrets claims, John Carmack is suing ZeniMax for $22.5 million for an alleged breach of contract:

Now Oculus CTO and former ZeniMax employee John Carmack has added a personal lawsuit to the mix. He's suing ZeniMax for $22.5 million, which he claims is the last outstanding payment from his sale of id Software in 2009, which ZeniMax purchased for $150 million.

Carmack's share of that sale was $45 million. He converted half of it into ZeniMax shares in 2011, but says he hasn't received the rest of it despite asking nicely. The lawsuit is a little spicy, stating, "Sour grapes is not an affirmative defense to breach of contract."

Carmack claims that ZeniMax won't pay him because of its lawsuit against Oculus, which alleges Carmack broke his employment agreement. But since the verdict in the ZeniMax / Oculus case wasn't against Carmack, Carmack claims he should still get paid.

John Carmack vs. ZeniMax Media.

Also at Ars Technica and TechCrunch.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Facebook/Oculus Ordered to pay $500 Million to ZeniMax 6 comments

Mark Zuckerberg's first courtroom testimony hasn't gone over so well. A jury has awarded ZeniMax Media Inc. $500 million in damages in the Oculus Rift case:

The virtual reality headset maker that Facebook Inc. bought in 2014 for $2 billion used stolen technology, a jury said in awarding $500 million damages to ZeniMax Media Inc.

Jurors in Dallas federal court on Wednesday sided with ZeniMax in its trade-secrets case over the Oculus Rift, the device that has put the social media giant at the forefront of the virtual reality boom. The verdict is a rebuke of Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, who isn't a defendant but who told jurors in his first-ever courtroom testimony that it was important for him to be there because the claims by ZeniMax Media Inc. were "false."

The case is ZeniMax Media Inc. v. Oculus VR Inc., 3:14-cv-01849, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas). Not to be confused with the Eastern District of Texas. From a 2013 article in Dallas News:

Judges in the Northern District, which includes Dallas and Fort Worth, saw an 18 percent increase in patent cases filed. And legal experts expect that number will significantly increase in 2013 now that three judges in Dallas have committed to focusing more of their time and expertise on intellectual property disputes.

Also at The Verge.

Previously:
Facebook to Buy Rift Maker Oculus VR for $2bn
Mark Zuckerberg Will Testify in Oculus VR Trade Secrets Trial


Original Submission

ZeniMax Media Sues Samsung Over Gear VR Headset 13 comments

How do you profit from virtual reality without the need for customers or products? You sue! Fresh from winning a $500 million judgment against Facebook/Oculus, ZeniMax Media is now suing Samsung:

Carmack, whose company id Software was acquired by ZeniMax in 2009, was one of the driving forces behind the Gear VR. While the headset was released by Samsung, it's described as "powered by Oculus," with heavy software optimizations developed by Carmack. But the lawsuit alleges that Carmack owed much of his success at Oculus to software he developed as part of a team at ZeniMax.

Among other things, the Texas court filing claims that Carmack secretly brought Oculus (and former ZeniMax) employee Matt Hooper into id Software's offices to develop an "attack plan" for mobile VR, which Oculus would later take to Samsung. The Samsung Gear VR was also built on some of the same code as the Oculus Rift, which was the subject of ZeniMax's earlier lawsuit.

Also at Ars Technica and PC Gamer. Zenimax v Samsung lawsuit. Gear VR.

Previously: Zenimax Sues Oculus on Trade Secrets
Mark Zuckerberg Will Testify in Oculus VR Trade Secrets Trial
Facebook/Oculus Ordered to pay $500 Million to ZeniMax
John Carmack Sues ZeniMax for $22.5 Million
Founder of Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey, Departs Facebook

Related: Samsung to Open VR Movie Studio in New York
Goodbye Cardboard: Google to Create VR Headset to Compete with Samsung's Gear VR
Samsung Gear VR Adds a Tracked Controller


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:26AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:26AM (#477941)

    Both Oculus and ZeniMax could have made $1 billion if they had instead put their IP together in a cordial joint venture.

    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:42AM (2 children)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:42AM (#477951) Homepage

      John Carmack doesn't like you guys. You pirate and torrent shit. That's why he quit Slashdot.

      • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:59AM

        by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:59AM (#477956)

        I almost bought Quake 4, but dropped the box like a hot potato when I saw that it included DRM.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:29PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:29PM (#478088)

        Didn't be get banned from there for shitposting?
        Oh no, my mistake, that was you.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:43AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:43AM (#477952)

      Or Oculus wins the appeal and Maxipad gets nothing.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:16PM (#478081)

        They still would have had to pay tons of money to lawyers, and suffer the overhead of heartache.

(1)