ZeniMax has followed on their complaints that Oculus is using technology that's rightfully theirs with a lawsuit against the VR company and its founder, Palmer Luckey, for "illegally misappropriating ZeniMax trade secrets." There's a statement from Oculus on the Washington Post saying: "The lawsuit filed by ZeniMax has no merit whatsoever. As we have previously said, ZeniMax did not contribute to any Oculus technology." The Post also has seen ZeniMax's complaint and summarizes it like this:

According to a copy of the court filing shared with The Washington Post, the relationship started when Carmack contacted Luckey in 2012 after being impressed by material about the Rift that he'd read online. Luckey, in turn, sent a Rift prototype to ZeniMax's offices.

From there, the complaint says, Carmack -- still a ZeniMax employee -- worked with others at the game company to help develop the Rift ahead of a showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry's largest trade show. Following that show, the Rift project gained wide exposure and eventually raised $2 million on Kickstarter -- growing momentum that eventually led to its Facebook acquisition.

The complaint says that Luckey and ZeniMax then signed a non-disclosure agreement in 2012 that gave the game publisher "exclusive ownership of the confidential and proprietary information" covered under the agreement -- namely what Carmack and other employees contributed to the Rift. But as the project gained more public attention, ZeniMax alleges, Luckey began violating that agreement and was not properly crediting ZeniMax for its contributions.

ZeniMax had asked for financial compensation and equity stake in Oculus in exchange for the contributions it claims to have made to the Rift, according to the complaint. But efforts to settle the matter out of court failed and, ZeniMax claims, forced its hand.