Judge cuts damages owed to ZeniMax in half and allows Oculus Rift sales to continue

Back in early 2017, the big ZeniMax VS Oculus/Facebook trial officially took place, with the end result being a $500 million fine against Facebook. Since then, ZeniMax filed for an injunction in an effort to halt Rift sales, and Facebook has appealed the fine. This week, Facebook scored two wins on that front, with a judge ruling that Rift sales should be allowed to continue, and cutting the original fine in half.

US District Judge, Ed Kinkeade, rejected ZeniMax's request to ban sales of Oculus Rift headsets. Following that, he also wiped $250 million off of the initial fine, wiping out the damages levied at Oculus co-founders Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe. As Bloomberg reports, the damages now owed by Facebook include $200 million for a breach of contract and an additional $50 million for copyright infringement.

Originally, ZeniMax was suing Facebook for a whopping $2 billion, and the case included some severe accusations that go beyond copyright infringement. One of the more serious allegations was theft of trade secrets, which centered around Palmer Luckey's previous work with ZeniMax and John Carmack's new position at Oculus.

ZeniMax's lawyers said that the company is pleased to have won $250 million, but is ultimately disappointed that the initial jury verdict was cut in half. The case isn't over yet though, as Facebook plans to appeal the remaining claims in an effort to reduce the fine further.

KitGuru Says: The ZeniMax VS Oculus case is still ongoing, but it looks like the chips are starting to fall in Facebook's favour. Still, given the number of appeal options still available, it could be another few years before we see this case finally resolved. 

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