Zenimax wins $500 million in suit against Occulus and Facebook

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http://m.ca.ign.com/articles/2017/0...ax-awarded-500-million-in-oculus-lawsuit?read

Sorry, I'm posting from my phone so I can't quote the article, but the link above has it all.

A jury sided with zenimax/Bethesda/id against Occulus/Facebook and John Carmack and has awarded damages of $500 million. Furthermore Zenimax is apparently going to seek an injunction to stop the sale of Occulus going forward, so we'll have to see what happens there.

While this is super shocking, I have to say that the allegations against John Carmack specifically have an air of reality to them. I read Masters of Doom back in August and a lot of the chapters about Carmack talk about how philosophically he doesn't believe in intellectual property. I can see him hating it at id following the sale to zenimax in 2010, a big company that would probably be all about that, and not believing that they owned his work.
 
Zenimax is filled with lawyers, too. Carmack fucked up big time but it sounds like he got pretty lucky. One tidbit I thought was interesting, may not be true either, is that Facebook's lawyers told Zuckerberg that the Oculus people were either lying or acting really shady but Zuckerberg wanted the deal signed quickly. Guess that wasn't a smart move, lol.
 
Great, now hire some more people and get out the new Elder Scrolls faster.

Btw I used to work across the street from Zenimax, it's a pretty small building, I wouldn't consider them a huge company. This is a huge win for them.
 
Zenimax is filled with lawyers, too. Carmack fucked up big time but it sounds like he got pretty lucky. One tidbit I thought was interesting, may not be true either, is that Facebook's lawyers told Zuckerberg that the Oculus people were either lying or acting really shady but Zuckerberg wanted the deal signed quickly. Guess that wasn't a smart move, lol.

1. In what way was Carmack lucky?

2. Where'd you hear the bit about what the lawyers were advising Zuckerberg on what to do?
 
1. In what way was Carmack lucky?

IANAL but I suppose Zenimax could have just sued the fuck out of Carmack or try to put him in jail for theft.
 
IANAL but I suppose Zenimax could have just sued the fuck out of Carmack or try to put him in jail for theft.

Well he was a named defendant in the suit so it's not entirely clear how much he's on the hook for himself. Presumably the Defendants are jointly and severally liable so he may have to cough up a good chunk of cash himself, if not end up going bankrupt, which I certainly hope doesn't happen. The man's a living legend in the games and programming industry.
 
Great, now hire some more people and get out the new Elder Scrolls faster.

Btw I used to work across the street from Zenimax, it's a pretty small building, I wouldn't consider them a huge company. This is a huge win for them.
Not really. From every other article I've read, the judge found that no ip was stolen, no patents were broke, etc. They judge did find they broke an NDA, that's where the $500m is from.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/01/zenimax-partial-win-oculus-lawsuit/

Yeah, it's a good chunk of cash, but they're note getting royalties. This isn't over, facebook is going to fight this to the end. A large amount of that $500m is going to go towards lawyer fees.
 
Not really. From every other article I've read, the judge found that no ip was stolen, no patents were broke, etc. They judge did find they broke an NDA, that's where the $500m is from.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/01/zenimax-partial-win-oculus-lawsuit/

Yeah, it's a good chunk of cash, but they're note getting royalties. This isn't over, facebook is going to fight this to the end. A large amount of that $500m is going to go towards lawyer fees.
Eh you kinda have a point here. Dem lawyers.
 
Eh you kinda have a point here. Dem lawyers.
And facebook has a lot more money to drag this out for years. I think it's pretty safe to assume an appeal has already been filed.
 
1. In what way was Carmack lucky?

2. Where'd you hear the bit about what the lawyers were advising Zuckerberg on what to do?

Saw it on another board so not sure how credible the "lying" part is but in the trial, Zuckerberg testified that the Oculus deal was done over a weekend. Seems like he wanted to snatch them up before anyone else.
 
The real challenge for Facebook on this is whether or not Zenimax will file for an injunction that blocks the further sale of the Rift. The $500 million may not be a huge chunk of change to Zuckerberg and company, but if they have to go right back to the drawing board because they can't sell the product they have on hand right now that's going to hurt them A LOT.
 
Zenimax is filled with lawyers, too. Carmack fucked up big time but it sounds like he got pretty lucky. One tidbit I thought was interesting, may not be true either, is that Facebook's lawyers told Zuckerberg that the Oculus people were either lying or acting really shady but Zuckerberg wanted the deal signed quickly. Guess that wasn't a smart move, lol.

It will likely prove to be a smart move assuming the injunction doesn't pass. I'd be pretty shocked if it did.
 
I can't believe that a guy like Carmack who builds engines from scratch had to allegedly google ''how do you wipe a hard disk?'' lol
 
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