Polygon is reporting that the Oculus lawsuit has ended with a Texas jury awarding half a billion dollars to ZeniMax.
The jury found that Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey failed to comply with a non-disclosure agreement, but also found that Oculus did not misappropriate trade secrets.
Oculus said they plan to appeal the verdict.
ZeniMax accused Oculus and parent company Facebook of stealing trade secrets from the company in the development of the Oculus Rift headset, saying former senior ZeniMax employee John Carmack provided the technology to Oculus when he left to become Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer.
Facebook purchased Oculus VR in 2014 for $2 billion.
In his closing arguments, ZeniMax attorney Anthony Sammi said the company should be awarded $2 billion in compensation and another $2 billion in punitive damages.
An Oculus spokesperson told Polygon that “the heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax’s trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favor,” though the company was disappointed with other aspects of the verdict.
Sources:
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ZeniMax Awarded a Half Billion in Lawsuit Against Facebook
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http://www.polygon.com/2017/2/1/1447...awsuit-verdict