VR company Oculus gets a $500 million slap on the wrist
ZeniMax is the publisher and holding behind Bethesda Softworks (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout) and id software (Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake) and claimed that co-founder of id software John Carmack handed development secrets over to Oculus after joining the company.
By Official GDC - Flickr: Game Developers Choice Awards @ GDC 2010, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9758546
Polygon “The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax's trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favor,” an Oculus spokesperson told Polygon. “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. “
Robert Altman, ZeniMax’s Chairman and CEO, added that “technology is the foundation of our business and we consider the theft of our intellectual property to be a serious matter. We appreciate the jury’s finding against the defendants, and the award of half a billion dollars in damages for those serious violations.”
During his day in court, Zuckerberg was grilled about his company’s seemingly rushed acquisition of Oculus for $2 billion. And during the first week of the trial, Carmack was questioned about his decision to copy some code from id Software computers before leaving the company to work at Facebook with Luckey.
Of the $500 million, Oculus is paying out $200 million for breaking the NDA and $50 million for copyright infringement. Oculus and Luckey each have to pay $50 million for false designation. And former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe has to pay $150 million for the same, final count.
Seems the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook has become a little more expensive but for a company this size $500 million is no more than a slap on the wrist.
ZeniMax on the other hand can rake in a hefty profit which it will at least partially invest in further game development or so I do hope.
For further reading:
https://mspoweruser.com/oculus-rift-found-guilty-of-copyright-infringement-fined-500-million/
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/facebook-s-oculus-ordered-to-pay-500m-fine-in-zenimax-court-case
http://www.polygon.com/2017/2/1/14474198/oculus-lawsuit-verdict
