Harsh reality: Facebook’s Oculus Rift, accused of stealing VR tech, is ordered to pay US$500m
A US jury Wednesday ordered Facebook and creators of its Oculus Rift to pay US$500 million to gaming software firm ZeniMax in a lawsuit that claimed the virtual reality technology was stolen.
The Texas jury made the award in a trial in which Oculus was accused of basing its Rift headset on technology stolen from ZeniMax’s virtual reality software, court documents showed.
The lawsuit claimed Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and his colleagues developed the virtual reality gear using source code illegally obtained from the gaming firm.
The jury dismissed the charge that Oculus stole or misappropriated trade secrets but found Oculus liable for copyright infringement and other violations.
Luckey was ordered to pay US$50 million of the award and another former Oculus executive, Brendan Iribe US$150 million.
