As we at TechRadar have previously established, everybody loses when technology is on trial.
So why does ZeniMax, the company that's suing Oculus VR for allegedly stealing virtual reality trade secret, want to turn us all into losers?
Is the Oculus Rift really so unoriginal? And if so, why did ZeniMax choose now to bring its allegations to bear against the suddenly very successful VR company?
It's unclear who's really to blame, or whether this lawsuit has any merit at all. It might be an opportunistic grab at some of Oculus's newfound billions, but the courts may ultimately judge that the video game publisher is in the right.
It's far too early to tell how this fortress of cards will fall, so for now let's just break it down.
Bright beginnings
Oculus VR captured gamers' imaginations in 2012 with the Oculus Rift, a head-mounted display that did virtual reality better than anything seen before.
Company founder Palmer Luckey set out to make the most powerful virtual reality headset ever created, and he sought to keep it affordable for gamers. By all accounts he's on the road to success, and anyone who's used Oculus Rift can attest it is quite remarkable.
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hyeUkB44IM
No doubt John Carmack - legendary game designer and creator of the Doom series of first-person shooters - agrees. In fact, he liked Oculus Rift so much he joined the company as CTO in 2013.
Carmack had been working on virtual reality at his company id Software, which some years before had been purchaseb by ZeniMax (the parent company of video game publisher and developer Bethesda, the studio behind games like Skyrim). And that's where all this trouble originated.
The charges
ZeniMax went public with its allegations against Carmack and Oculus early in May, claiming that Carmack took some code with him when he left the company - code that eventually found its way into the Rift headset.
In response Oculus fired back with a statement that claimed "there is not a line of Zenimax code or any of its technology in any Oculus products" and "John Carmack did not take any intellectual property from Zenimax."
Then, a few weeks later, Zenimax went all official and announced in a press release that it had filed a formal suit against Oculus.
So it seems Luckey, Carmack and all of Oculus VR will soon stand in a Texas court, accused of "illegally misappropriating ZeniMax trade secrets relating to virtual reality technology, and infringing ZeniMax copyrights and trademarks," according to Zeni's announcement. Then there are the claims of "breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition against the defendants."
In other words, this is no joke.
They know too much
Zenimax says it has "years of research and investment" in virtual reality, and that Carmack and Oculus "exploited" the company's "trade secrets, copyrighted computer code, and technical know-how."
Yes, apparently "technical know-how" is something you can own and/or steal, according to Zeni.
But the question on everyone's mind is why they'd bring this up now, two years into Carmack's stint with Oculus - during which time the company has shown off at trade shows, enlisted countless developers, and begun selling prototype units to the public. And the answer may be simple: Oculus struck blue gold when Facebook purchased it for $2 billion (about £1.1b, AU$2.1b) in March.
"Only after the Facebook deal was announced has Zenimax now made these claims through its lawyers," Oculus said at the beginning of May. It's not worded as an accusation, but the statement hangs significantly in the air.
Is Zenimax only trying to capitalize on Oculus's newfound wealth? Did the company see dollar signs when Facebook invested billions in virtual reality?
No one's yet disclosed the numbers involved in the lawsuit, but Zenimax probably isn't lowballing it. So what's going to happen if they win?
The headsman or the tax man?
Right now the case of Zenimax v. Oculus VR is very much a he said/she said kind of situation. Without any actual proof either way, all we have is each side's statements. And every Game of Thrones fan knows that word are wind.
Right now neither company is issuing many words. Oculus said that it will "defend these claims vigorously," and Zeni has let its press release speak for itself. No one's looking at the big picture: what will happen to everyone's favorite virtual reality headset when this is all over?
Judging by what usually happens in tech-based lawsuits, Oculus Rift probably isn't about to face the headsman.
Just look at Apple and Samsung's never-ending battle royale of patent lawsuits, which has raged in dozens of countries over multiple years. The case has had no real loser, since both companies have carried on more or less as before. And the only real winners are the attorneys raking in legal fees like they won the lottery.
Oculus is a tech company too, so hopefully the worst case scenario will shake out the same way. We can at least count on Facebook to bring out its biggest guns to defend its new investment.
And maybe some more secrets will even be revealed - we already learned why Doom is no longer in development for Oculus, after all ("Zenimax canceled VR support for Doom 3 BFG when Oculus refused Zenimax's demands for a non-dilutable equity stake in Oculus," Oculus's earlier statement said).
But for the sake of argument let's look at a different example, this one in the gaming world, for another possibility. In March Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever developer Gearbox brought suit against dev studio 3D Realms and its parent company, Interceptor, over the Duke Nukem trademark.
3D Realms had just announced a new game, Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, and was about to announce a new project. But thanks to the chilling effects of Gearbox's allegations, Interceptor postponed the announcement indefinitely.
This is no judgement on which side is in the right, but merely an example of the effect an IP suit can have on innovation.
Will Zenimax's suit against Oculus VR stop virtual reality development in its tracks? There's virtually no chance. But it will be a shame if it delays the future that gamers have been waiting for by even a little bit.
Meanwhile, Oculus Rift may be coming to a Chuck E. Cheese near you.
And we'll always have Project Morpheus