Last month, we reported that developer Silicon Knights sued Epic Games for a variety of reasons, most of them surrounding the use of Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 and licensing and rights problems. Today, some updates were revealed that shed some light on the situation from Epic Games’ point of view.
Countering Silicon Knights’ lawsuit, Epic filed one of their own saying that Silicon Knights "decided to misappropriate Epic’s licensed technology" and that their lawsuit "lacks factual or legal merit." Epic said, "Indeed, the plain language of the Silicon Knights’ Complaint makes clear that Silicon Knights wants to take Epic’s Licensed Technology, pay nothing for it, and use it any way it pleases."
To throw a curveball into the mix, Silicon Knights actually got a discount on the Unreal Engine 3 since they promised they would use it on all of their upcoming games. Also, Epic said that Silicon Knights knew that some features for the engine were still being worked on and they’ll be added when completed.
Furthermore, when Silicon Knights abandoned the Unreal Engine 3 for Too Human and started to work on their own engine, Epic alleges that they incorporated unauthorized Unreal Engine 3 technology into their own engine.
Epic is seeking damages in excess of $650,000, so we’ll see what happens!
