Oculus Will Now Pay Only $250M to ZeniMax over Copyright Infringement, Down from $500M

A legal case between Facebook-owned VR company Oculus and video game publisher ZeniMax seems to have come to an apparent conclusion. The seller of the Oculus Rift is now being ordered to pay the publisher of the “Fallout” video game series $250 million. This was after a jury decided on the matter, which Judge Ed Kinkeade then ruled on. This is actually a better deal for Oculus since ZeniMax was originally seeking $500 million in damages.

The decision was a result of the ruling that former id Software employee John Carmack stole company secrets and gave them to Oculus after he joined the VR firm. A previous ruling awarded ZeniMax with $500 million, but Oculus successfully appealed to halve that amount, Bloomberg reports.

In addition to the favorable reduction of fees awarded by Judge Kinkeade to Oculus, he also rejected the demands by ZeniMax to halt all sales of the VR headsets. The video game publisher’s legal team originally argued that a permanent injunction was necessary to halt all future copyright infringements on the part of Oculus. Apparently, the judge was not swayed by the said arguments.

For its part, ZeniMax expressed dissatisfaction that the amount was cut in half, but said that it was pleased to have won the case even so. In a statement, the publisher was still emphatic in stating how the incident has harmed the company’s interests.

“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,” the statement reads.

Facebook and Oculus seemed to hold similarly exultant views on the matter, Engadget notes. Facebook VP and general counsel Paul Grewal noted that the case against Oculus was flawed from the start.

"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," Grewal said.