Updated: Zenimax fires back at Oculus with a statement of its own

Update: Last week, the trial for Zenimax's $2 billion lawsuit against Oculus kicked off. This lawsuit has been brewing for a couple of years now and while Oculus has tried to brush it off as a wasteful attempt to try and cash in on VR, Zenimax has remained persistent in its claims that Palmer Luckey, John Carmack and Oculus VR as a whole stole intellectual property. Last week, Oculus sent out one last statement as the trial kicked off and sure enough, Zenimax has fired one right back.

“With the start of the trial of our case in Federal District Court in Dallas against Defendants Facebook, Oculus and its management, ZeniMax and id Software welcome the opportunity to present substantial evidence of the Defendants’ misappropriation of our Virtual Reality intellectual property.”

“That evidence includes the theft of trade secrets and highly confidential information, including computer code. ZeniMax will also present evidence of the Defendants’ intentional destruction of evidence to cover up their wrongdoing. ZeniMax and id Software are the visionary developers of breakthrough VR technology, and look forward to the vindication of our claims.”

From the sounds of it, we can expect plenty of drama to unfold over the course of the trial and it looks like things between Oculus and Zenimax could get even uglier. We should learn a bit more about the situation as the trial progresses over the next few weeks.

Original Story: Way back in 2014, Zenimax Media filed a lawsuit against Oculus VR, accusing former id Software employee, John Carmack of theft, while also bashing Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey. Now this week, the trial has finally kicked off with Oculus sticking to its guns, ruling out the lawsuit as a “wasteful attempt” by Zenimax to take credit for the company's own vision and expertise.

The trial is taking place in Texas and as much as $2 billion could be awarded to Zenimax if it ends up winning. In a statement given to UploadVR this week, Oculus noted that the company was “eager” to present its defence while also dismissing Zenimax's actions as wasteful.

“We’re eager to present our case in court. 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. 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.”

The trial is expected to last around three weeks and will call upon a number of witnesses, including Mark Zuckerburg. The trial should reveal more details on Palmer Luckey's involvement with Zenimax prior to the Oculus Rift Kickstarter, along with the circumstances surrounding John Carmack leaving id Software for Oculus VR.

KitGuru Says: This lawsuit has been brewing for a couple of years but it is all coming to a head over the next few weeks. The outcome could have a serious impact on Oculus VR going forward should the company be found guilty.

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