According to a report on The Wall Street Journal, Zenimax has filed against former employee John Carmack, accusing the id Software co-founder of taking "ZeniMax's intellectual property with him to Oculus."
Responding to the claims on Twitter, Carmack said: "No work I have ever done has been patented. Zenimax owns the code that I wrote, but they don't own VR."
A spokesperson from Oculus told WSJ that it was "unfortunate, but when there's this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent."
According to the report Zenimax has been seeking compensation for nearly two years (August 2012), and said this in a statement to the same outlet, stating that it had "sent formal notice of its legal rights," and that it thinks it "necessary to address these matters now and will take the necessary action to protect its interests."
An Oculus prototype was demoed at E3 2012, where Carmack openly admitted that it required new software to make it workable. Later, in February 2014, Zenimax asked Carmack to disclose what he'd been working on while at id Software.
On April 18, Zenimax contacted Oculus and Facebook through legal channels, saying: "It was only through the concerted efforts of Mr. Carmack, using technology developed over many years at, and owned by, ZeniMax, that Mr. Luckey was able to transform his garage-based pipe dream into a working reality."
Carmack admitted recently that he left id because of a lack of interest in VR. He joined Oculus as CTO in August of last year, and finally left id back in November.