The federal judge handling the case of ZeniMax Media versus Oculus VR has ruled that the dispute will move forward to a jury trial set for August 1, 2016. Judge Jorge A. Solis, whose seat is in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, has also thrown out lawsuit dismissal requests made by Facebook, Oculus VR and co-founder Palmer Luckey.
Zenimax Media sued Oculus VR and Palmer Luckey last year after Facebook purchased the Oculus Rift developer for $2 billion USD. The games publisher alleges that Oculus VR’s current CTO, John Carmack, was working for ZeniMax Media’s id Software subsidiary when he allegedly provided Palmer Luckey with trade secrets, code and “technical know-how” regarding the development of virtual reality headsets.
“ZeniMax provided this valuable intellectual property to defendants under a binding Non-Disclosure Agreement that specifies such intellectual property is owned exclusively by ZeniMax and cannot be used, disclosed, or transferred to third parties without ZeniMax's approval,” the company said in 2014. “ZeniMax's intellectual property has provided the fundamental technology driving the Oculus Rift since its inception.”
ZeniMax Media claimed that Oculus VR and Luckey refused to provide ZeniMax with compensation and is using the technology without permission. The company went on to say that its attempts to resolve the dispute were unsuccessful. Naturally, Oculus VR has a different story to share, indicating that ZeniMax Media wanted to take advantage of the financial transaction between Facebook and Oculus VR.
“There is not a line of ZeniMax code or any of its technology in any Oculus VR product,” stated Oculus VR’s response to ZeniMAx Media’s claims. “Indeed, ZeniMax had never identified any ‘stolen’ code or technology in any Oculus VR product, although ZeniMax had the full source code for the Oculus VR software for over a year and a half (having received it directly from Oculus VR well before it was even released publicly), and could have analyzed it online anytime (at developer.oculusvr.com).”
“Until the Facebook deal, and the perceived chance for a quick payout, ZeniMax never raised any claim of infringement against Oculus VR, undoubtedly because ZeniMax never has contributed any intellectual property or technology to Oculus VR,” Oculus VR added.
With the jury trial not taking place until next August, both sides of the dispute seemingly have plenty of time to get their facts straight. Meanwhile, Oculus VR is currently hammering out the consumer version of its virtual reality headset, which is slated to arrive in Q1 2016. However, we expect to hear more about the dispute when the Oculus Rift finally hits store shelves next year.
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1IXHfjT
