Facebook’s Oculus ordered to pay $500m over infringement
Facebook’s virtual reality subsidiary Oculus must pay $500 million in damages in a lawsuit centring on its Rift headset.
A Texas jury awarded the damages to video game developer ZeniMax Media yesterday, February 1, after finding copyright and trademark infringement and breach of a non-disclosure agreement.
ZeniMax filed the claim back in 2014, alleging that Oculus used code from ZeniMax in order to build its headset.
The Rift is designed to allow people to enter an immersive computer-generated environment such as a computer game or a movie scene.
ZeniMax also alleged that the disputed technology was improperly taken to Oculus by an employee who joined Oculus in 2013.
ZeniMax had disclosed its “proprietary hardware and software enhancements” to the co-founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey, under a non-disclosure agreement.
But, according to the video game developer, Luckey and Oculus breached the agreement. The jury found both parties liable, but ruled that the claim against Luckey was barred by laches.
The $500 million in damages includes $50 million for copyright infringement, $200 million for breach of contract, a $50 million award against both Oculus and Luckey for false designation ($100 million in total), and $150 million against Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe for false designation.
However, the jury found that Oculus was not guilty of misappropriating trade secrets and Facebook was cleared of all claims against it.
In a statement, Oculus said it would file an appeal.
“The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax's trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favour,” said a spokesperson for Oculus.
Oculus added that it was “obviously disappointed” by other aspects of the verdict, but that it is "undeterred".
“Our commitment to the long-term success of virtual reality remains the same, and the entire team will continue the work they've done since day one – developing virtual reality technology that will transform the way people interact and communicate,” they said.
Anthony Sammi, lead counsel for ZeniMax and partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said: "We are pleased with the jury’s award in this case. The award reflects the damage done to our clients as the result of the theft of their IP. We believe that our clients' rights have been vindicated."
