Epic Wins Lengthy Legal Battle Against Silicon Knights

[hal]

A tweet from Mark Rein confirms the five year legal battle between Epic Games and Silicon Knights has been decided.

Case over. Jury finds for Epic on all counts.

In 2007 Silicon Knights took Epic to court over their claimed lack of support and a broken Unreal Engine 3. Furthermore they stated that they'd done so much work on it that they were calling it their own engine. The case got quite ugly in the public and Epic Games ended up filing a counter-suit of their own, stating breach of contract, copyright infringement, and misappropriated trade secrets. Recently, after Silicon Knights failed to provide a legitimate breakdown of their financial harm, the judge set their damage limit at $1 per claim.

Epic Games has been awarded $4.45 million in damages and is also eligible to file paperwork and seek compensation for legal fees.

[N1ghtmare]

I was wondering what ever happened to this case. One of the longest video game related lawsuits I've seen.

[Firefly]

Silicon Knights are going to appeal so the fat lady isn't quite in ful voice just yet.

[-Jes-]

Was anyone actually surprised by the result though?!

Meanwhile, half of Gamasutra's comments sound like a bunch of SK employees.

[DannyMeister]

Originally Posted by -Jes-

Was anyone actually surprised by the result though?!

Not at all. I can't pretend to really know anything about what happened, but when all the other game studios were happy, something sounds fishy about SK's claims.

[Metaltron]

I once liked Silicon Knights a lot, but it seems they turned into real dicks. They went all Mr. Hyde on everyone and everything after they were done with the Gamecube.

[Balton]

At last.
Too Human was such an abomination, good going.

[CyMek]

I remember when I was really really pulling for Epic to win this lawsuit. On the upside, the judge setting the damage limits at $1 per claim is really really funny, so I'm glad good came out of this after all.

[Arnox]

Originally Posted by Balton

Too Human was such an abomination

Woah now. Too Human had a lot of great ideas. It just couldn't execute them properly though. Why it couldn't is a mystery to me. Maybe it it was all the delays and platform switching.

[Sir_Brizz]

I hope Dyack's company dies and nobody in the game industry will give him a job ever again. The guy is a complete fool.

[Arnox]

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

I hope Dyack's company dies and nobody in the game industry will give him a job ever again. The guy is a complete fool.

Holy crap, you fags are unforgiving. You guys don't even know the full story. How do you know he wasn't a victim? Lesson is don't be so quick to make a judgement call.

[Firefly]

I think some here are a tad biased towards epic for obvious reasons.

[Manticore]

Originally Posted by Firefly

Silicon Knights are going to appeal so the fat lady isn't quite in ful voice just yet.

Good point.

[Jam3s]

Originally Posted by Arnox

Holy crap, you fags are unforgiving. You guys don't even know the full story. How do you know he wasn't a victim? Lesson is don't be so quick to make a judgement call.

I don't think you know the full story either, not enough to be calling anyone "fags" anyways.

[Sir_Brizz]

Originally Posted by Arnox

Holy crap, you fags are unforgiving. You guys don't even know the full story. How do you know he wasn't a victim? Lesson is don't be so quick to make a judgement call.

I will be quick.

This guy has horrible opinions that do nothing useful for the game industry at all. Just look up some of the crap he has said on various topics. He is bottom feeder scum that doesn't deserve 1 second of fame, let alone what he's gotten.

Also, his company is practically entirely funded by the Ontario government. Companies that have to take dollars from the government in order to stay viable should GTFO already.

[Arnox]

Originally Posted by Jam3s

I don't think you know the full story either, not enough to be calling anyone "fags" anyways.

I'm not the one that's judgin'.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

I will be quick.

This guy has horrible opinions that do nothing useful for the game industry at all. Just look up some of the crap he has said on various topics. He is bottom feeder scum that doesn't deserve 1 second of fame, let alone what he's gotten.

Also, his company is practically entirely funded by the Ontario government. Companies that have to take dollars from the government in order to stay viable should GTFO already.

Yeah but...

Exhibit A:

[Sir_Brizz]

Any other exhibits?

I'll give them credit for starting the Legacy of Kain series, although the Soul Reaver stuff and everything that Crystal Dynamics did was SOOOO much better (on a sidenote, that is a series that seriously needs a new game).

I'll also give them credit for Eternal Darkness. I think a different company could take that series and make it better, though, honestly.

In both cases, someone else owns the IP and can handle doing the series' justice without SK.

Outside of those two games, they simply have not contributed much to the industry and Dyack is an utter fool. We would literally not be missing much if they were to close down.

[Arnox]

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

Any other exhibits?

I'll give them credit for starting the Legacy of Kain series, although the Soul Reaver stuff and everything that Crystal Dynamics did was SOOOO much better (on a sidenote, that is a series that seriously needs a new game).

I'll also give them credit for Eternal Darkness. I think a different company could take that series and make it better, though, honestly.

In both cases, someone else owns the IP and can handle doing the series' justice without SK.

Outside of those two games, they simply have not contributed much to the industry and Dyack is an utter fool. We would literally not be missing much if they were to close down.

I don't understand. You say that SK has made some great games and has therefore contributed to the industry. Then you say that we wouldn't be missing anything if they got shut down. I mean, what? It's clear they have some talent even if they don't show it at times so we would be missing something if they did close up shop.

Further, what makes you so certain that Dyack is an idiot?

[Sir_Brizz]

I said they started two good game series that will be just fine without them. That isn't much of a glowing endorsement for the company.

As far as Dyack goes, it's not even worth spelling it out. Go read some articles about things he has said.

[Arnox]

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

I said they started two good game series that will be just fine without them. That isn't much of a glowing endorsement for the company.

I still don't understand. If they weren't shut down then maybe they could make another great series.