Oculus has been told by a US judge to pay $250 million USD to ZeniMax Media, and while a substantial figure, that total represents only half the sum a jury ordered the company to hand over last year when the legal challenge between the two concluded, and considerably less than the billions of dollars originally sought by ZeniMax in damages over code developed at the company that found its way into the Oculus Rift headset.
ZeniMax Media sued Oculus over copyright infringement, with claims made against Oculus founder Palmer Luckey for breaking his non-disclosure agreement with the company (with similar allegations leveled at id Software co-founder John Carmack). Luckey had been working with Carmack on VR when he founded the now Facebook-owned Oculus.
On top of the $250 million to be paid by Oculus for breach of contract ($200 million) and copyright infringement ($50 million), ZeniMax will also receive an additional $54 million in interest. Meanwhile, the judge threw out damages owed by Brendan Iribe and Palmer Luckey, as well as ZeniMax's request that sale of the Oculus Rift be prohibited.
"Based on a strong evidentiary record, the jury in this case found that ZeniMax was seriously harmed by the defendants' theft of ZeniMax's breakthrough VR technology and its verdict reflected that harm," ZeniMax said in a statement, with Bloomberg reporting that they are both pleased to win the damages, but disappointed that the final figure is lower than expected.
Facebook VP Paul Grewal was also bullish, saying that the ruling "was a positive step toward a fair resolution, and we will be appealing the remaining claims."
"We've said from day one the ZeniMax case is deeply flawed, and today the court agreed. Our commitment to Oculus is unwavering and we will continue to invest in building the future of VR," he added in a statement, indicating that we may well have not heard the last of this particular story.