An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
ZeniMax Media, the parent company of both Bethesda Softworks and Id Software, says it will prove at trial that John Carmack and others at Oculus stole trade secrets to "misappropriate" virtual reality technology that was first developed while Carmack was working at Id Software. What's more, ZeniMax is now accusing Oculus of "intentional destruction of evidence to cover up their wrongdoing." Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Oculus parent company Facebook, is scheduled to respond to those accusations in testimony starting tomorrow, according to a report by Business insider. ZeniMax's statement comes after Carmack testified at trial last week, saying the case was "ridiculous and absurd." His testimony echoed Oculus' initial reaction when ZeniMax's accusations first surfaced in 2014. In court filings leading up to the trial, ZeniMax detailed its case that Carmack, while still an employee at Id Software, "designed the specifications and functionality embodied in the Rift SDK and directed its development." Carmack's technology and guidance allegedly "literally transformed" Oculus founder Palmer Luckey's early Rift prototype from a "primitive virtual reality headset" that was "little more than a display panel." Carmack allegedly used "copyrighted computer code, trade secret information, and technical know-how" from his time at ZeniMax after he moved to Oculus as CTO in 2013. As the trial began last week (as reported by a Law360 summary, registration required), Carmack told the court of his development of a virtual reality demo for Doom 3 in 2012 and his search for a VR headset that would be suitable to run it. That's when he says he got in touch with Luckey, leading to the now legendary E3 2012 demo that introduced Oculus to the public. ZeniMax is seeking $2 billion in damage, which matches the value that Facebook paid for Oculus in 2014. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
This is an interesting case
By Anonymous Coward
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2017-Jan-16 20:37
• Score: 4, Interesting
• Thread
Apart from the specific facts of what happened while Carmack was working on VR at Id Software.
It often happens that an employee starts investigating new technology that may not be directly tied to the company's existing products or plans. Typically, the employee will give demos and talks to management and other company employees, but the managers have a decision to make. It's one thing to allow one employee to go off on his own for six months looking into something which might be a breakthrough. It's another thing to assign a team of engineers, including management, marketing, UX and graphics, test, documentation, sysadmin, etc. and capital resources needed to bring the engineer's ideas to fruition. And all the while, there are corporate politics going on, with the "stock" of managers and engineers rising and falling in the firm. And people leave the company for better pastures.
If the company signs off on the project and says "Let's go!" then, great, chances are the engineer will hunker down and spend at least the next year or two trying to get the now fledgling project off the ground. But what if management balks, or worse, if they assign a manager who has very different ideas about what to do with the technology, and/or who should be the lead engineer? Certainly, the company has paid for the specs, drawings, prototypes and code that the engineer has developed to date, and properly owns them outright. But do they own what's in the engineer's head? Could HP's lawyers have gone after Stephen Wozniak in the '70s after Apple came out with a hit product?
What?
By ChoGGi
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2017-Jan-16 20:40
• Score: 4, Interesting
• Thread
None of the entertaining quotes from Carmack?
One line of questioning asked whether Carmack knew about a âoesecret meetingâ in a hotel room with Oculus co-founders Nate Mitchell and Palmer Luckey, to which Carmack responded âoeNo I didnâ(TM)t, it was a secret.â A MacBook was brought up during questioning as well, with the lawyer asking why it was never wiped, with Carmack responding: âoeI am not a Mac user unless under duress.â
http://uploadvr.com/john-carma...
Re:This is an interesting case
By PolygamousRanchKid
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2017-Jan-16 21:17
• Score: 5, Insightful
• Thread
But do they own what's in the engineer's head?
Buried in the small print of my employment contract somewhere, is a clause that states that my employer has the first rights to ANY patent idea that gets hatched out of my bat-shit crazy tiny little mind . . . not just ones that are related to our IT business.
So, if I came up with a great idea for new toilet paper, I need to at least submit it to our patent boys to take a look. If they like the idea, they patent it in my name, but it gets assigned to my employer. If they don't like it, then I am free to patent it myself . . . provided I pay some legal folks to do the paper work.
Now if I quit my job, and suddenly the next day submit a patent . . . my former employer will get very suspicious. I am not really sure, but there is probably an exit process that ensures that "everything that happened in Vegas, stays in Vegas." There is also probably some kind of "non-competition" period, in exchange for cash.
Like the last line of the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag . . . "with Freedom and Justice for the Rich." Whoever can afford the best legal team wins the case.
Going after Carmack?
By beheaderaswp
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2017-Jan-16 21:39
• Score: 3, Interesting
• Thread
They better have real evidence. If you filled a 100ft by 100ft room full of the smartest people on earth- Carmack would be in the room. That's big game hunting.
You don't sue a person like that- you make a deal. Because he doesn't need to win- it was his brain. He already won.