Today, jurors in the Northern District of Texas rendered their verdict in Zenimax Media Inc. v. Oculus et al. (verdict available here). The case has been in the news recently, mainly because Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, took the witness stand for the defense. (Another interesting article was recently published concerning the case and the Northern District of Texas’ rules concerning electronics and recording devices in courtrooms.)
The jurors found, among other things, that
- none of the defendants (including Facebook) misappropriated plaintiffs’ trade secrets;
- defendant Oculus infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights ($50 million in damages);
- defendant Oculus committed breach of contract ($200 million in damages);
- defendant Facebook did not tortiously interfere with plaintiffs’ contract with Palmer Luckey and/or Oculus;
- defendants Facebook and Oculus did not engage in unfair competition against plaintiffs;
- Oculus infringed ZeniMax’s trademarks (but Zenimax suffered no damages); and
- defendants Oculus, Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe committed false designation (the jurors awarded $50 million against Oculus, $50 million against Luckey, and $150 million against Iribe).
Accordingly, the jurors awarded a total of $500 million in damages ($300 million against Oculus, a company recently acquired by Facebook; $50 million against Luckey; and $150 million against Iribe).
Judge Kinkeade is presiding over the case.