Facebook ordered to pay $500m in Oculus Rift theft lawsuit

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Facebook has been ordered to pay $500 million in damages in a lawsuit claiming the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset was based on stolen technology.

A Texas jury awarded the sum to video game publisher ZeniMax Media Inc after determining Oculus executives violated a ZeniMax non-disclosure agreement in the early days of building the Oculus headset.

However, the jury decided Oculus was not guilty of misappropriating trade secrets.

The $500m is made up of $200m for NDA violation and $50m for copyright infringement, plus a $50m award against both Oculus and co-founder Palmer Luckey for false designation and $150m against former CEO Brendan Iribe for false designation, according to Polygon.

Oculus told the site they would be appealing the verdict.

“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 said.

“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."

The Oculus Rift VR headset has recently been released in the UK.