© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Jeff Bounds
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(May 22) – A Richardson video game maker and its corporate parent are going after a California firm that they claim hasn’t compensated them for technical know-how they provided in making a virtual reality system, court records show.
In filings in federal district court in Dallas, the local firm, id Software LLC, and its parent, Maryland’s ZeniMax Media Inc., claim the defendants – California-based Oculus VR, Inc. and one of its officials, Palmer Luckey, — “now stand to realize billions of dollars of value from ZeniMax’s intellectual property.”
A big reason: Facebook Inc. announced on March 25 that it plans to acquire Oculus for about $2 billion in cash and stock, court records say.
Another sticking point: Instead of providing compensation for ZeniMax’s intellectual property, court papers say, Oculus did things such as:
• Using ZeniMax’x intellectual property in creating its product;
• Exploiting attention that ZeniMax and one of its key employees, John Carmack, garnered in creating and and promoting the Oculus product;
• Hiring away several employees from ZeniMax and id.
Carmack, a North Texas game maker who worked for id, became Oculus’ chief technology officer in August of last year, court records say.
His employment contract at id expired in June of last year, with Carmack opting not to renew, court papers allege. Carmack did work for three months last summer as a part-time technical advisor for id following the end of his employment contract, ZeniMax’s lawsuit says.
Then, on Feb. 17 of this year, “five additional senior employees of ZeniMax, all of whom had worked closely with Carmack at id Software, simultaneously resigned,” Zenimax’s suit claims. “All five of those ZeniMax employees immediately joined Oculus.”
Oculus issued a statement that says: “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.”
Phillip Philbin, a partner in the Dallas office of Haynes and Boone, is lead counsel for ZeniMax and id. He wasn’t immediately available for comment Thursday.
P. Anthony Sammi is also leading a team of attorneys at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on behalf of ZeniMax and id.
It wasn’t immediately clear Thursday who will represent Oculus. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to address the matter.
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