Starting on page 20:
57. On July 26, 2012, Luckey again asked for
ZeniMax’s help with the Kickstarter video,
specifically asking Carmack to provide a clip
“talking about the Rift/VR in general/whatever
else you think would be a great thing to have.”
Luckey further acknowledged: “Your reputation has
really helped the credibility of this project, and
having that credibility in the video would make a
big difference for alot [sic] of people.” Carmack
declined Luckey’s request to appear in the
Kickstarter video.
58. At about that same time, Carmack advised
Luckey: “It is very important that you NOT use
anything that could be construed as Zenimax
property in the promotion of your product. Showing
my R&D testbed with the Rage media would be bad,
for instance.”
59. Luckey replied, “I will make
sure we do not show the Rage demo in the
Kickstarter, but is there any chance we can
mention support/show a quick clip from Doom 3/BFG
Edition?” ZeniMax turned down Luckey’s request,
instructing that Luckey rely on publicly-available
information for Kickstarter promotional material.
60. On August 1, 2012, Luckey launched the Oculus
Kickstarter campaign. The funding target was set
at $250,000. The Kickstarter page featured a
five-minute video describing the modified Rift
headset.
61. In blatant disregard of ZeniMax’s rights,
Defendants used ZeniMax’s intellectual property in
the Kickstarter video. The video features multiple
clips showing “DOOM 3: BFG Edition,” displayed on
the modified Rift headset. The video also used
“DOOM 3: BFG Edition” to promote the modified Rift
by displaying, without authorization, ZeniMax’s
logo for “DOOM 3: BFG Edition” as the first
Oculus-Rift ready game. Further, despite the lack
of any commercial agreement with ZeniMax,
Defendants promised that certain backers of the
Kickstarter campaign would receive copies of
ZeniMax’s game “DOOM 3: BFG Edition” with support
for the modified Rift.
Context: at this point, Luckey has executed an NDA with Zenimax, in writing, with a "proper use" clause. Carmack has demoed the Rift at E3 to thunderous response. Luckey subsequently, Zenimax alleges, shifted from planning to offer "$500 worth of optics as a hobbyist package" to "launching a commercial product". Zenimax has, it alleges, made overtures to Luckey for a joint venture, but Luckey has ignored them. Then, after being warned by Carmack not to do it, Luckey creates a Kickstarter that prominently features id games.
Could be ugly.
Could be ugly.