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Zenimax Accuses John Carmack of Stealing VR Tech

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-missed-the-boat,-get-over-it dept.

John Carmack made waves last year when he left id Software, owned by Zenimax, to join Oculus VR in order to help create its virtual reality headset. Now Zenimax has sent documents to Oculus's legal department claiming Carmack "stole" technology from them when he left. They said, "The proprietary technology and know-how Mr. Carmack developed when he was a ZeniMax employee, and used by Oculus, are owned by ZeniMax. Well before the Facebook transaction was announced, Mr. Luckey acknowledged in writing ZeniMax's legal ownership of this intellectual property. It was further agreed that Mr. Luckey would not disclose this technology to third persons without approval." Carmack says, "No work I have ever done has been patented. Zenimax owns the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR." Oculus was also dismissive: "It's unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims."

1 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Carmack is a very rich man again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    After 'burning' iD (Carmack lost interest in making AAA games engines that anyone wanted to license- he had ONE customer for the Doom 3 engine, and zero likely customers for the Rage engine), and failing with his 'space' projects, one would assumed he was done- finished. But, on Zenimax's dime, with Zenimax's total permission, he created a new opportunity for himself at the 'stone soup' joke of a VR company, Oculus VR, and bounced back to the top when Facebook wrote that cheque for 2 billion.

    And there are dummies here so moronic, they accuse Carmack of having made some kind of mistake? It is just hilarious watching betas try to judge alphas.

    At Oculus VR, Carmack can "fiddle" to his heart's content- all he really wants to do these days. And who can blame him. His 'glory' days are long behind him, as with so many people who are 'hotshots' in their youth. At some point, one might expect him to once again use a portion of his personal fortune to indulge in some engineering fantasy, but hopefully his space fiasco teaches him to choose something more modest this time.