ZeniMax sues Oculus over stealing VR tech

Earlier this month id parent company ZeniMax accused former id co-founder John Carmack of stealing VR tech before he left the company to work for Oculus VR full-time. It looks like the two parties couldn't settle this amicably because ZeniMax filed a lawsuit against Oculus VR and its founder, Palmer Luckey.

ZeniMax is accusing Luckey and company of "illegally misappropriating ZeniMax trade secrets relating to virtual reality technology, and infringing ZeniMax copyrights and trademarks." The suit, filed in federal court, also accuses Oculus of "breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition against the defendants". It noted that Oculus broke some non-disclosure agreements related to intellectual property that "provided the fundamental technology driving the Oculus Rift since its inception."

The Bethesda parent-company added that "all efforts by ZeniMax to resolve this matter amicably have been unsuccessful". When the ZeniMax accused Carmack of stealing trade secrets, the VR company countered with a statement saying "ZeniMax has never contributed IP or technology to Oculus," something ZeniMax is now calling a flat-out lie.

"Luckey has held himself out to the public as the visionary developer of virtual reality technology, when in fact the key technology Luckey used to establish Oculus was developed by ZeniMax," the company claimed in a recent announcement about the impending lawsuit.

"Intellectual property forms the foundation of our business," said chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Robert Altman. "We cannot ignore the unlawful exploitation of intellectual property that we develop and own, nor will we allow misappropriation and infringement to go unaddressed."

Oculus, however, is sticking to its guns and said in a statement to Eurogamer that "The lawsuit filed by ZeniMax has no merit whatsoever. As we have previously said, ZeniMax did not contribute to any Oculus technology. Oculus will defend these claims vigorously."