ZeniMax (Bethesda) Asks Court to Halt Sales of Oculus Rift VR Headset

MotweraGamingLeave a Comment

There was a major court case between ZeniMax (Bethesda) and Oculus (Facebook) over issues surrounding Oculus VR. Claims of stolen code and other problems lead to the two parties going into the courts to get things worked out. The end result was that ZeniMax one and Oculus (Facebook) having to cough up money to compensate for damages.

Publisher ZeniMax Media has made good on its intention to file an injunction against Oculus to stop the sale of Rift and any associated software that infringes upon ZeniMax’s copyrighted code, according to documents filed in Texas court this week.

Earlier this month, a Dallas, Texas jury awarded $500 million in damages to ZeniMax after finding that Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, and by extension Oculus, failed to comply with a non-disclosure agreement. Of that total amount, ZeniMax was awarded $50 million for copyright infringement.

But sadly issues are still present regarding this case, as ZeniMax is asking the courts to halt the sales of Oculus VR Units.

“The jury’s damage award here, however substantial, is an insufficient incentive for Defendants to cease infringing,” ZeniMax said in court documents. “Just minutes after the jury revealed its verdict, Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, publicly stated that the jury’s verdict of a half billion dollars was ‘not material to [Facebook’s] financials.’”

ZeniMax’s injunction intends to block the sale and distribution of any Oculus products that use its copyrighted code. That includes, but is not limited to, system software for Oculus PC and mobile products, as well as Oculus integration with the Unreal Engine and Unity Game Engine. The injunction could impact not only Oculus and the sale of Rift hardware, but developers working on software for the virtual reality platform.

It’s a shame to see this issue still popping up and if Oculus doesn’t comply with these demands if the court pushes for them, it would have major implications on VR game development. While the PS VR and Vive will continue to get success in the VR landscape, Oculus Developers could lose jobs and more if issues with the company continue to pop up. If you want to learn more about this story, consider reading the full article on Polygon that this report is based on. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.