EDIT - Another commentor posted the original complaint and this is exactly why Zenimax is not paying "ZeniMax’s stated basis for its failure to comply with the Convertible Promissory Note is a series of allegations regarding claimed violations of Mr. Carmack’s Employment Agreement and ZeniMax’s alleged intellectual property rights."(1)
A jury of "peers" found Oculus at fault in several key areas in Zenimax's last complaint, and Carmack was central in that story.
When Zenimax sued Oculus - the VR community responded with overwhelming support for Oculus, casting Zenimax as the greedy corporation trying to get a slice.
Zenimax's original complaint - of which a Jury saw enough truth in to award $500m to Zenimax - is more or less as follows:
- Zenimax bought ID software for >$100m on June 24, 2009.
- Carmack signed up with Zenimax for an earn-out / golden-handcuffs agreement that ended in June of 2013.
- Carmack was enthralled with VR.
- Carmack found Palmer via an internet forum, reached out to get a rift to try.
- Carmack tinkered with the Rift, adding sensors, building calibration, etc. while on the clock / using hardware from zenimax.
- Carmack brought a prototype of the Rift working on Doom 3 to E3 with him providing Oculus with their early press.
- Zenimax realized the extent to which Carmack was enabling Oculus and worked to negotiate equity with Brendan Iribe.
- Oculus sent Zenimax a proposal to discuss a partnership Sept 21, 2012 but never followed up / followed through.
- Carmack quit Zenimax the day his contract was up in June 2013, joined Oculus as CTO a few months later and took his 5 best guys with him.
- FB bought Oculus March 2014, Zenmix got pissed and sued.
When Zenimax responds to this new complaint from Carmack it's a foregone conclusion that they will re-raise this "bad behavior" and likely point to non-competitive clauses attached to the "earn out" as non-performing.
I love Carmack and his contributions to our world, I am concerned that Zenimax may out lawyer him.
PS - Fun fact - two of Zenimax's board members are Cal Ripken, Jr. (hall of fame baseball player) and Robert S. Trump - brother to our current president.
EDIT - Changed first sentence for clarity of my point.
(1) https://www.scribd.com/document/341420632/John-Carmack-vs-Ze...