<story><title>Zenimax Sues Oculus</title><url>http://www.zenimax.com/press/ZeniMax_Media_Inc._and_id_Software_LLC_File_Suite_Against_Oculus_VR_Inc._and_its_Founder_Palmer_Luckey</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>sillysaurus3</author><text>From the discussion on Reddit: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2655hh/zenimax_sues_oculus_vr_for_misappropriation_of/chntzyk&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;Games&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;2655hh&amp;#x2F;zenimax_sues_o...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    Throwaway because zenimax is sue-happy and I work
    at id Software, and I don&amp;#x27;t want to lose my job.

    A while back there was an artist here who made
    some artwork for Valve&amp;#x27;s Team Fotress 2 Hat
    contest in their spare time. This artist ended up
    winning and received a large amount of money from
    royalties. Zenimax got pissed off that this person
    was earning money from what they felt like was
    &amp;quot;Their property&amp;quot;. The rumor was that they were
    about to sue them, but ended up backing off. I&amp;#x27;m
    not sure why.

    This individual left the company shortly after. I
    don&amp;#x27;t blame them.

    We&amp;#x27;ve been loosing top-notch talent left and right
    ever since the Zenimax purchase, but more so after
    RAGE didn&amp;#x27;t do too well. We&amp;#x27;re alright now, but I
    really believe that this is no longer the place
    that it was when I started years ago. The office
    culture sucks ass, and unless you&amp;#x27;re keen to
    sticking your nose up certain people&amp;#x27;s asses, or
    have been here since the days when we could
    actually ship games, then you&amp;#x27;re not going to get
    very far.

    I think Zenimax is mostly to blame for this. Fuck
    them.

&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
The moderators of &amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;Games verified that the above comment is from a current Id employee.  The reason I&amp;#x27;m crossposting it here is because it&amp;#x27;s an interesting datapoint about the mindset of the people at Zenimax.</text></comment>
<story><title>Zenimax Sues Oculus</title><url>http://www.zenimax.com/press/ZeniMax_Media_Inc._and_id_Software_LLC_File_Suite_Against_Oculus_VR_Inc._and_its_Founder_Palmer_Luckey</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>Starting on page 20:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    57. On July 26, 2012, Luckey again asked for
    ZeniMax’s help with the Kickstarter video,
    specifically asking Carmack to provide a clip
    “talking about the Rift&amp;#x2F;VR in general&amp;#x2F;whatever
    else you think would be a great thing to have.”
    Luckey further acknowledged: “Your reputation has
    really helped the credibility of this project, and
    having that credibility in the video would make a
    big difference for alot [sic] of people.” Carmack
    declined Luckey’s request to appear in the
    Kickstarter video.
     
    58. At about that same time, Carmack advised
    Luckey: “It is very important that you NOT use
    anything that could be construed as Zenimax
    property in the promotion of your product. Showing
    my R&amp;amp;D testbed with the Rage media would be bad,
    for instance.”  

    59. Luckey replied, “I will make
    sure we do not show the Rage demo in the
    Kickstarter, but is there any chance we can
    mention support&amp;#x2F;show a quick clip from Doom 3&amp;#x2F;BFG
    Edition?” ZeniMax turned down Luckey’s request,
    instructing that Luckey rely on publicly-available
    information for Kickstarter promotional material.
     
    60. On August 1, 2012, Luckey launched the Oculus
    Kickstarter campaign. The funding target was set
    at $250,000. The Kickstarter page featured a
    five-minute video describing the modified Rift
    headset.
     
    61. In blatant disregard of ZeniMax’s rights,
    Defendants used ZeniMax’s intellectual property in
    the Kickstarter video. The video features multiple
    clips showing “DOOM 3: BFG Edition,” displayed on
    the modified Rift headset. The video also used
    “DOOM 3: BFG Edition” to promote the modified Rift
    by displaying, without authorization, ZeniMax’s
    logo for “DOOM 3: BFG Edition” as the first
    Oculus-Rift ready game. Further, despite the lack
    of any commercial agreement with ZeniMax,
    Defendants promised that certain backers of the
    Kickstarter campaign would receive copies of
    ZeniMax’s game “DOOM 3: BFG Edition” with support
    for the modified Rift.
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
Context: at this point, Luckey has executed an NDA with Zenimax, in writing, with a &amp;quot;proper use&amp;quot; clause. Carmack has demoed the Rift at E3 to thunderous response. Luckey subsequently, Zenimax alleges, shifted from planning to offer &amp;quot;$500 worth of optics as a hobbyist package&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;launching a commercial product&amp;quot;. Zenimax has, it alleges, made overtures to Luckey for a joint venture, but Luckey has ignored them. Then, after being warned by Carmack not to do it, Luckey creates a Kickstarter that prominently features id games.&lt;p&gt;Could be ugly.</text></comment>