There's are new developments in ZeniMax's lawsuit against Oculus which charges that the Oculus Rift maker stole ZeniMax's tech for the VR headset.
Public court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division on October 27, 2016 show that U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Stickney has ruled that ZeniMax (parent company of id Software and Bethesda) is entitled to information by subpoena from Samsung related to Samsung's use of source code and technology provided by Oculus in creation of the Samsung Gear VR. In 2014, Oculus helped Samsung with the development of the device.
Samsung – who is not party to ZeniMax's lawsuit – has three weeks to comply.
In related case news, on the same day Judge Stickney ordered Oculus to provide imaging of the hard drive of former id Software employee-turned-Oculus employee, John Carmack, for "redacted communications." Oculus has two weeks to provide the information, but the judge ruled that ZeniMax could not have direct access to the drive and other devices themselves.
At the time of this writing, Oculus has not publicly commented on the matter. We have contacted it for additional details, but the company has not immediately responded. We will update this story if we receive comment. ZeniMax declined to comment on the matter.
[Source: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas]
Our Take
Nobody knows yet exactly what if any information was withheld from Carmack's hard drive, or what documents Samsung has in its possession, but the court's rulings have certainly paved the way for ZeniMax to receive some potentially valuable information related to its case against Oculus.