Topic: Epic counter sues Silicon Knights

[idolminds]

Bum bum BUM!

"Silicon Knights wants to take Epic's Licensed Technology, pay nothing for it, and use it any way it pleases," the counter-motion reads. "Having exploited Epic's intellectual property to its advantage, Silicon Knights now seeks to renege on its payment obligations under the License Agreement. It is Silicon Knights, not Epic, that has engaged in deceit, infringement of Epic's intellectual property rights, breach of contract, and unfair business practices."

1) License engine better than you could build yourself.
2) Learn what you can from it.
3) Write "new" engine with all the stuff you've learned.
4) Attempt to back out of the original deal.
5) ?
6) Profit

We are currently at step 5.

[Quemaqua]

Heh, nice summary.  This is turning into an awfully weird situation.

[gpw11]

I came across an article a few weeks ago interviewing various developers at e3 (i guess) and seeing where they stand on this.  Suprisingly no one really seemed to think it was as out there as the press and consumers seem to.  That's not to say that anyone really fully supported it or spoke out against the lawsuit, but people were pretty rational about it and it seems that Epic very well may have broken some contract obligations to numerous developers with this engine. 

That aside, what SK wants out of this is a little silly.

[idolminds]

Yeah, Epic should be in trouble if they didnt deliver what the promised within the timeframe they promised. But SK seems to want free reign use of UE3 while also getting all their money back. Not going to happen.

[gpw11]

I'd imagine that they just threw in some outrageous restitution demands without expecting to get them at all.