Oculus Fires Back At ‘Silly, Money-Grabbing’ ZeniMax Lawsuit

Last month, ZeniMax officially dropped the lawsuit hammer on Oculus, accusing the virtual reality company of “illegally misappropriating” their trade secrets in an extensive legal complaint. In the suit, ZeniMax alleged that Oculus had infringed upon their copyrights and trademarks, and that id Software co-founder John Carmack had provided technology to Oculus before he joined the company last year.



ZeniMax detailed a long list of complaints that alleged Oculus founder Palmer Luckey would have been unable to create the popular Rift without ZeniMax’s help. “Rather than compensate ZeniMax for the use of its intellectual property, Defendants then sought to obtain additional virtual reality know-how by recruiting ZeniMax employees, including Carmack, to join Oculus,” the lawsuit said.

Today, Oculus fired back at ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda and publisher of a number of big games including Wolfenstein and Fallout. In an email, a PR representative for Oculus called the lawsuit “silly” and “money-grabbing”.

Oculus’s official response to the lawsuit, embedded below, claims that ZeniMax only took interest after Facebook’s purchase of Oculus earlier this year for $US2 billion, alleging that ZeniMax never raised infringement claims until they saw a “perceived chance for a quick payout”.

“ZeniMax’s Complaint falsely claims ownership in Oculus VR technology in a transparent attempt to take advantage of the Oculus VR sale to Facebook,” Oculus writes. “There is not a line of ZeniMax code or any of its technology in any Oculus VR product.”

The response goes on to describe how Luckey developed the Oculus Rift, including photos of early prototypes and specific details about Luckey’s relationship with Carmack.

“ZeniMax had a golden opportunity to make an early investment in Oculus VR and chose to pass,” Oculus’s response says. “The lawsuit is nothing more than ZeniMax seeking to correct for a massive missed opportunity through the assertion of meritless litigation.”

Here’s Oculus’s full response: