ZeniMax Sues Oculus VR Over Stolen Trade Secrets

[aelreth]

If it was Carmack that went so far as to re do the code after the fact, oh my.

Those idiots should compensate Zenimax, yesterday, it would be wise for Carmack consider returning to his old office.

 

[Strazdas]

They shouldnt be. What i coded on my own time should not belong to the company, only what i did while im working for them.

Unless you signed a contract saying that it does, which as several people have noted, is pretty standard in the software industry. I have friends who work for JP Morgan Chase doing application development, and their employment contract has that language as well, basically anything they code while they're employed there belongs to the employer. I had that language in my contract when I worked for Microprose.

which is why i said "Should" and not "is". Such contracts would not be enforcable in my country anyway though. Worker rights would superseed that part of contract.

Frankly... if this is all true, then we actually owe a significant amount of gratitude to Zenimax. snip

Thank you for reading through the document and linking it. Indeed this looks like Zenimax has a case here and quite a significant one. i totally did not expect that.

No, the system has not failed. Read my posts in the other thread. While the assignment of inventions agreement can be abused, which is why some jurisdictions limit the enforceability of the agreement, the agreement provides employers with an essential legal recourse. In the event that contractors or employees subvert their relationship with their employer, and therefore their access to the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information, for their own ends, the employer can pursue a remedy.

If you want me to read your posts in another thread it would be wise to link to said posts (unless they are quoting me, in which case i already get a notice in inbox).
Its fair use in such cases but the law should not allow the abuse as seen in such contracts like pointed by Tangoprime.

 

[Adraeus]

If you want me to read your posts in another thread it would be wise to link to said posts (unless they are quoting me, in which case i already get a notice in inbox).

I linked the thread in my first response to Pyrian [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/7.850620.21018248].

 

[Lightknight]

Oculus has responded on several sites:

"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."

It may very well be that in the last year or so they have updated every individual component of the Rift to become something unique from its prototype. If Carmack really did re-write the code this year as Zenimax implies then the code could now be unique too.

But none of that really helps Oculus at all. All you need is the clear paper trail that even Carmack and Luckey provided to show that the prototype and the first dev kit we all almost the sole creation of Zenimax and then there's a full merit to show Zenimax's role in all this as legitimate.

I sure hope that Oculus hasn't been destroying documents that would impact the investigation. That could lead to some actual jail time for people.

 

[Strazdas]

If you want me to read your posts in another thread it would be wise to link to said posts (unless they are quoting me, in which case i already get a notice in inbox).

I linked the thread in my first response to Pyrian [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/7.850620.21018248].

Ah, not being Pyrian i did not saw it. But after glancing at it i remmeber reading it back when it was posted. I just did not associate it with you because usually i care about contents of the post and not the name attached to it.