Oculus has responded to Zenimax’s claim that the company’s CTO John Carmack stole Zenimax property to use on the Oculus Rift when he was still at Id Software saying that it is “disappointed but not surprised by Zenimax’s actions” and will “prove that all of its claims are false.”
Oculus also noted that the source code for Oculus Rift is fully available online, however Zenimax has not specified the code or technology that they claim Carmack stole. Carmack himself also claimed that “Oculus uses zero lines of code that I wrote while under contract to Zenimax.”
Zenimax says Palmer Luckey, Oculus founder, “acknowledged in writing Zenimax’s legal ownership of this intellectual property,” but Oculus replied stating “Zenimax has misstated the purposes and language of the Zenimax non-disclosure agreement that Palmer Luckey signed.”
Oculus noted that the reason behind Carmack leaving Id Software was in large part due to Zenimax preventing him from working on virtual reality. The company also claimed that Zenimax cancelled Doom 3 BFG VR support because it refused to give Zenimax a non-dilutable equity stake in the company.
Oculus added that Zenimax’s legal attack comes just over a month since Facebook acquired the VR company in a deal worth $2 billion.
“Zenimax did not pursue claims against Oculus for IP or technology, Zenimax has never contributed any IP or technology to Oculus, and only after the Facebook deal was announced has Zenimax now made these claims through its lawyers.”
(via CVG)