Epic: Silicon Knights lawsuit over, 'jury finds for Epic on all counts' [Update: Epic awarded $4.45 million]
According to Epic Game vice president and co-founder Mark Rein, the years long lawsuit between Silicon Knights and Epic Games came to an end today. Rein took to Twitter to broadcast the news. "Case over. Jury finds for Epic on all counts," he said. Silicon Knights hasn't issued a formal response as of yet, though we've reached out for confirmation.
The suit arose over allegations from Silicon Knights that Epic Games was withholding pieces of its Unreal Engine 3 – pieces that were allegedly instrumental in the creation of Too Human. Due to the alleged delays, Silicon Knights says it was forced to implement its own game engine (known only as "Silicon Knights engine") to complete the project.
Since Too Human, Silicon Knights went on to create the critically-panned X-Men: Destiny and suffered major layoffs. Epic, however, has seen its Unreal Engine 3 thrive across the current generation of consoles, not to mention the success it's seen with the Gears of War franchise.
Update: Epic issued a statement this afternoon stating that "The jury rejected Silicon Knights' claim that Epic breached its Unreal Engine 3 license agreement with Silicon Knights. The jury also found in Epic's favor on all of its counterclaims, namely that Silicon Knights breached the license agreement, misappropriated Epic's trade secrets, and infringed Epic's copyrights in the Unreal Engine 3 code. The jury awarded Epic damages totaling $4.45 million." The full statement is below the break; we've yet to hear anything from Silicon Knights.
[Image credit: 'bloomsberries']
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Epic Games Wins Lawsuit Against Silicon Knights, Awarded $4.45 Million
Epic Games secured a significant victory today against Canadian company Silicon Knights when a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina found in favor of Epic on all claims.
The jury rejected Silicon Knights' claim that Epic breached its Unreal Engine 3 license agreement with Silicon Knights. The jury also found in Epic's favor on all of its counterclaims, namely that Silicon Knights breached the license agreement, misappropriated Epic's trade secrets, and infringed Epic's copyrights in the Unreal Engine 3 code. The jury awarded Epic damages totaling $4.45 million. Epic has 30 days in which to file a request to the court for reimbursement of attorneys' fees and costs. The court previously had thrown out Silicon Knights' fraud claims after nine days of testimony.
"We are delighted with the jury's verdict and all of the hard work done by the Hunton & Williams legal team," said Jay Andrews, Epic's General Counsel.
The suit, case number 5-07-CV-00275-D, was originally filed in July 2007 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
