ZeniMax Suing Samsung Over VR Following Their Lawsuit Win Against Oculus

ZeniMax suing Samsung

Having just come off of a successful lawsuit (which you can read the full court proceedings here) filed against Oculus, publisher Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax, is now suing Samsung in another lawsuit related to virtual reality.  The lawsuit this time around involves Samsung’s Gear VR headset. According to ZeniMax, Samsung worked with the Oculus Rift in making their Gear VR, and as Samsung has since profited with the VR headset, ZeniMax claims that the profit should be sourced to them.  According to The Verge, the lawsuit claims that former ZeniMax employee John Carmack “secretly brought Oculus (and former ZeniMax) employee Matt Hopper into id Software’s offices to develop an ‘attack plan’ for mobile VR, which Oculus would later take to Samsung.”

ZeniMax appears to be using their recent $500 million win against the Oculus team to elevate themselves in their lawsuit against Samsung.  ZeniMax is saying that Samsung should have been aware of their lawsuit against Oculus, yet Samsung “continued to develop the Gear VR with full knowledge of ZeniMax’s allegations and without obtaining any right or permission from ZeniMax to use any of its copyrights or other confidential information.”  This all falls squarely into what ZeniMax is suing Samsung with, which is copyright infringement for code used in the Gear VR tech, as well as “trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment.”

ZeniMax suing Samsung

Despite their previous win, ZeniMax is showing no signs of stopping their tireless crusade against the Oculus Rift and any company that could be profiting from the technology.  As previously reported, ZeniMax took the $500 million win and immediately filed for an injunction in order to permanently halt Oculus Rift sales.  If the latest lawsuit against Samsung goes their way, ZeniMax could be in an even better position with which to demand a full stop on Oculus Rift sales. For now, we will have to wait and see the court’s ruling on the matter, and hope that whatever the outcome is, it does little to stunt the growth of VR technology moving forward.

So, thoughts on ZeniMax’s reasoning for suing Samsung?  Do you feel like they are justified?  Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to DFTG for all the latest gaming and entertainment news!  Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!

Ryan "Cinna" Carrier3026 Posts

Ryan is the Lead Editor for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he isn't writing, Ryan is likely considering yet another playthrough of Final Fantasy IX. He's also the DFTG cinnamon bun.

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