Epic's Motion to Dismiss SK Suit Denied

The ongoing saga of the suit/counter-suit battle between Epic Systems and Silicon Knights continues, with Epic's motion to dismiss dismissed. GameDaily reports: "GameDaily BIZ briefly spoke with SK's attorney on the case, Christopher T. Holland, an Equity Partner at Krieg, Keller, Sloan, Reilley & Roman, LLP. Holland confirmed to us that all of SK's initial claims will not be thrown out and 'remain in play for the trial.' An exact date for the trial has yet to be set. 'We're a long way from a verdict in this case, but certainly as a plaintiff we're pleased that the court has recognized the merit in our claims and we're happy that we can now proceed as planned with all the claims we brought for discovery and trial,' Holland said."

Comments

A spinning we will go

[Krozy]

My instincts are telling me that Epic is in the wrong here, simply from the commentary. From the article... Epic VP Mark Rein said. "Often these requests are denied. It is important to note that this was not a decision on the merits of Silicon Knights' claims. We are confident that the evidence will show Silicon Knights breached its license with Epic Games and violated our copyrights and trade secrets." So Epic licenses the Unreal Engine to SK. SK doesn't get all the working elements of the engine per the contract, and meanwhile, Gears of War goes forward using the engine. SK and other licensees are scrambling to make something work from nothing, and Epic turns around and says its SK that violates the copyright and trade secrets? Sounds like deflection to me, just like their counter-claim.

Re:A spinning we will go

[HandsOnFire]

I have a few friends that are in the know at SK.

From what I've been told, (this could be wrong, or a lie, I'm not sure) is that Epic didn't give them a working engine. It was so bad that it would be impossible to make a game from it. I could see why this would result in delays from them and other companies.

I'd say more, but I promised this person/these people I woldn't. :p

Re:A spinning we will go

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

what about the tens of other games that were done with UE3 and had no issues with it? Are SK saying that they were ostracized from all other developers using UE3? Epic doesn't like us, boo-hoo, etc? wasn't the game they're working on supposed to come out 2 console generations ago?

Re:A spinning we will go

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

sorry I was wrong, on closer inspection I count 11 games that are either out now or out within 3 weeks, and you are wrong about Vegas.
Bioshock
Blacksite: Area 51
Fatal Inertia
Hour of Victory
Mass Effect
Monster Madness
Stranglehold
Vegas
Medal of Honor: Airborne
Fury
and Unreal Tournament 3

then there are also a few XBLA games that use UE3.

if there was a problem on epic's end wouldn't you think at least one other dev team would have taken issue?

Re:SK Does (did) have access to everything

[p0tat03]

Everyone is still ignoring the main (and only concrete) claim in the entire case: that the contract stipulated an exact date by which Epic must deliver a working Xbox 360 build of the engine. The contention here is that Epic did not. This claim is so trivially easy to prove/disprove that I have no doubt Epic missed the deadline, and honestly, on this alone Epic will be paying out to SK, no questions asked.