The Facebook-owned virtual reality company Oculus Rift has been ordered to pay $500 million to Zenimax, after a Texas jury decided Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey failed to comply with a non disclosure agreement he signed and committed copyright infringement.
The original lawsuit from ZeniMax, the video-game company responsible for Doom, Fallout and the Elder Scrolls series, was for $4 billion and accused Oculus of stealing trade secrets crucial for the design of their VR headset. The jury did not find any wrongdoing in that area.
Of the $500 million, Oculus is responsible for $300 million, Luckey is responsible for $50 million, and co-founder Brandon Iribe must pay $150 million.
In a statement provided to Polygon, Oculus contended that they won on what was considered the “heart of the case.”
The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax’s trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favor. We’re obviously disappointed by a few other aspects of today’s verdict, but we are undeterred. Oculus products are built with Oculus technology. Our commitment to the long-term success of VR remains the same, and the entire team will continue the work they’ve done since day one – developing VR technology that will transform the way people interact and communicate.
While the company certainly dodged a $4 billion bullet, the judgment is still a financial blow for the company. In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion, and shortly after ZeniMax sued Oculus.
The suit alleged that when John Carmack left ZeniMax to become Oculus’s chief technology officer he copied company code on his way out, something Carmack admitted to in testimony. ZeniMax claimed that Oculus’ VR software took crucial elements from software Carmack was working on at id Software, a subsidiary of ZeniMax, and that it was ““one of the biggest technology heists ever.”
Apparently the jury did not agree and focused on the less sexy elements of the case, a broken NDA and a copyright violation.
Oculus plans to appeal the decision.
