Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg to testify in $2-bn lawsuit over VR headset technology
17 Jan 2017
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify in a Dallas courtroom today in a $2-billion lawsuit that claims it had had acquired Oculus despite knowing that the virtual reality headset maker allegedly used stolen technology.
The lawsuit was filed in 2014, by ZeniMax Media, owner of Texas video game developer id Software, against Oculus and its co-founder Palmer Luckey.
The lawsuit was later amended to include Facebook by lawyers for ZeniMax.
The social network went ahead with the merger even though it was fully aware of the allegations against Oculus, the lawsuit claimed. Facebook intended to ''leverage and commercially exploit'' the virtual reality technology that was stolen from ZeniMax, the lawsuit said.
The allegations were denied by Oculus, which is owned by Facebook.
''Oculus and its founders have invested a wealth of time and money in VR because we believe it can fundamentally transform the way people interact and communicate,'' an Oculus spokesperson said in a statement last week when the jury trial for the lawsuit started.
''We're disappointed that another company is using wasteful litigation to attempt to take credit for technology that it did not have the vision, expertise, or patience to build.''
Zuckerberg would appear in a Dallas court on today to defend his company over the claims.
The BBC said it had come to know that Zuckerberg would argue that Zenimax appreciated the potential of VR - and that it was Oculus' own work that made it the valuable technology it is today.
"We're eager to present our case in court,'' a spokesman for Oculus told the BBC.
The dispute involved John Carmack, the legendary games designer known for hit games like Doom and Quake and the company he co-founded, id Software.
For a brief period, Carmack had worked for both id and Oculus - but in November 2013 he quit id completely.
