Photo credit: www.Oculus.com
Facebook’s Oculus, virtual reality company, has been ordered to pay $500 million to ZeniMax for copyright infringement! Facebook purchased Oculus, for $30 million back in May 2014. Shortly after, ZeniMax, the virtual reality startup, claimed that Oculus used code developed by ZeniMax to build the virtual reality Oculus Rift headsets.
ZeniMax is the parent company of ID Software. While working at ID Software, John Carmack had exchanged emails with Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey (former employee of ZeniMax), when he was developing a prototype of the company’s flagship headset. ZeniMax claimed that Luckey “commercially exploited” their computer codes and trade secrets. The jury found Oculus guilty of copyright infringement, failure to comply with a non-disclosure agreement, and misuse of Oculus trademarks by false designation. The jury decided that Oculus didn’t steal trade secrets though.
Let’s break it down. Of the $500 million, Luckey will pay $50 million and former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe will pay $150 million for false designation. Oculus will pay $200 million for non-disclosure agreement (NDA) violation, $50 million for copyright infringement, and $50 million for false designation.
Oculus and Facebook stated that they would appeal the court’s decision. As they stated, “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. We look forward to filing our appeal and eventually putting this litigation behind us”.
We’ll keep you posted!
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Written by: Teresa Nguyen