Courts deny motion to dismiss UE3 case

The legal row between Epic Games and Silicon Knights continues to rumble on – and now the courts in North Carolina, USA have denied Epic’s motion to dismiss the case, reports Next-Gen.

Earlier this year, Silicon Knights filed a lawsuit against Epic claiming that its Unreal Engine 3 had hindered development of their game Too Human.

Epic moved to dismiss the case, and resulting legal filings have lead to a war of words between the two independent studios.

In the latest documents filed following the court’s refusal to dismiss, Epic has raised questions about the legality of Silicon Knights’ development of a new game engine and how it may have drawn materials from UE3.

CEO Todd Sweeney said in a declaration: “I understand that Silicon Knights has admitted to using part or all of Unreal Engine 3 to create the Silicon Knights Engine from which it is creating its ‘second game

“I also understand that Silicon Knights, through the declaration of [Silicon Knights boss] Denis Dyack, has admitted providing Unreal Engine 3 to unauthorized third parties.

“As a result of Silicon Knights’ continued misappropriation of Epic’s trade secrets and its infringement of Epic’s copyrighted code, Epic has been and will continue to be damaged and irreparably harmed. The disclosure of trade secrets and copyrighted materials by Silicon Knights to unauthorized users would allow other parties to understand and utilize the systems and data structures associated with Unreal Engine 3 in order to reproduce, copy and ultimately compete with Epic in the competitive marketplace of game and engine development.”

In a separate filed statement, Epic VP Mark Rein added: “The videogaming industry is relatively small and close-knit such that companies live and die by their reputations. Silicon Knights’ disparagement of the Unreal Engine 3 while it develops an allegedly independent and competing game engine imminently threatens Epic’s licensing business.

“Every day that passes is another opportunity for Silicon Knights to start development on a new game or distribute Epic’s proprietary information and code to others.”