Facebook Loses VR Lawsuit, But Will Appeal

Facebook has been ordered to pay $500 million to ZeniMax after losing a lawsuit alleging that Oculus cofounder Palmer Luckey violated a non-disclosure agreement to create prototypes of the Oculus Rift VR headset.

Facebook, which plans to appeal the judgement, acquired Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion, and led to the commercial debut of the Oculus Rift in early 2015. Oculus’s technology also powers the Samsung Gear VR headset. (Samsung has shipped more than 5 million Gear VRs).

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According to Business Insider, ZeniMax, which was seeking $2 billion from Oculus and another $4 billion in additional damages, Oculus/Facebook is on the hook to pay ZeniMax $200 million for the NDA violation, another $50 million for copyright infringement, and $50 million more for false designation. Additionally, former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe is ordered to pay ZeniMax $150 million for false designation and Luckey will have to pay ZeniMax $50 million also for false designation, the report added.

Go to Multichannel.com for the full story.