The lawsuit filed by against Facebook-owned Oculus VR has resulted in the jury awarding $500 million to ZeniMax Media, a video game publisher that claims Oculus stole its technology for the development of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
Oculus said that it was disappointed with the ruling and that it plans to lodge an appeal. ZeniMax, meanwhile, could seek an injunction to halt sales of the Oculus Rift.
Oculus Loses In Lawsuit Against ZeniMax
In the findings of the jury, Oculus cofounder Palmer Luckey, and by extension the company, breached the terms of a non-disclosure agreement. The jury also found that Oculus was guilty on charges related to copyright infringement and false designation with regard to the Oculus Rift, with computer code used in the Oculus Rift said to be directly infringing on copyrights owned by ZeniMax.
However, Oculus was not found guilty on the charges of ZeniMax that it stole trade secrets that were used in the development of the Oculus Rift.
"The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax's trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favor," a spokesperson for Oculus told Polygon, but the company remains committed that its products are built with its own technology.
Of the $500 million award to ZeniMax, Oculus will be paying $200 million for the breach of the non-disclosure agreement and $50 million for the copyright infringement. Oculus cofounder Brendan Iribe will have to pay $150 million, while Oculus and Luckey will each have to pay $50 million for false designation.
Nevertheless, the $500 million award was far lower than the $6 billion that ZeniMax was seeking as damages for the case.
Will Oculus Rift Sales Stop?
After the $500 million award was revealed, ZeniMax said that it could seek an injunction to temporarily halt sales for the Oculus Rift.
"We will consider what further steps we need to take to ensure there will be no ongoing use of our misappropriated technology," said a spokesperson for ZeniMax, adding that the request for an injunction for code that the jury found infringed on the company's copyrights.
The decision by the jury does not immediately mean that any request for an injunction to stop sales of the Oculus Rift will be automatically granted, but it will be a factor if ZeniMax does decide to proceed with the request.
Facebook Involved In Oculus Lawsuit
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in court on the lawsuit, wherein he revealed that the acquisition price that the social network company paid to acquire Oculus back in 2014 was actually $3 billion and not the $2 billion, which was previously reported.
Facebook was not found to be directly liable in the lawsuit, but it will likely have to shell out the money owed by Oculus as its subsidiary, unless there is an agreement that Facebook will not be paying any legal penalties that Oculus might incur.
The stock of Facebook was not affected by the verdict of the jury, with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stating that the result of the hearing was not material to the business of Facebook.
