The Exact Fate of Oculus Rift Now Comes into Question
Half a billion dollars awarded to Zenimax. But on the bright side for Oculus, it wasn’t the full $4 Billion that was asked for. How did ZeniMax get the money you ask? Well, it deals directly with Oculus Co-founder Palmer Luckey and his failure to comply with a non-disclosure agreement
For anyone who hasn’t read previous coverage, Palmer Luckey, Co-founder of Oculus, has worked with John Carmack( previous head at ZeniMax subsidiary id Software). Carmack left, however, because of project disagreements; specifically, the company barred his delving into VR technology. But in the process,he was also forbidden from using any company-funded research toward future projects. Apparently, Luckey was caught breaking parts of their agreement, thus owing ZeniMax a hefty $500 mil in compensation.
Of the $500 million, Oculus is losing $200 million for breaking the NDA while another $50 million compensates copyright infringement. That leaves Oculus and Luckey paying an additional $50 million each for false designation, while Iribe(CEO) pays $150 million for the final count.
Alas, part of ZeniMax’s claim also stated that Oculus misappropriated trade secrets. Hence, why even more money was up for grabs. But the defense won on that matter, which was a very big deal and cornerstone of the proceedings. “The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax’s trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favor,” said an Oculus spokesperson. He went on to clarify that the judgement will not affect Oculus’s commitment toward improving and innovating VR. So far, that future remains intact.
In the meantime, ZeniMax may file an injunction to temporarily halt the sale of Oculus Rift headsets. We’ll see where that takes us and how the final verdict shall affect the future of Virtual Reality. As things unfold, you can keep updated on all the latest through COGconnected.