An earlier courtroom battle between Zenimax and Facebook-owned Oculus might have ended, but a recent injunction stands as a reminder that the war over the code powering Oculus’ virtual reality technology still rages on.
According to UploadVR, Zenimax filed an injunction yesterday that seeks to halt sales of Oculus hardware and software containing Zenimax-created code or intellectual property. Such an action would have adverse effects on Oculus, but would also no doubt harm the developers creating games for the virtual reality headset.
If granted, the injunction would affect the future of Oculus tech featuring the stolen code, including Oculus’ PC and Mobile software and SDKs, and game engines like Unreal and Unity that have built-in Oculus integration already.
This latest action from Zenimax falls on the heels of a jury case that ultimately awarded Zenimax with $500 million in damages. But, as the documents fueling this latest legal action illustrate, the company feels that the ruling was not harsh enough to fully rectify the situation.
“The jury’s damage award here, however substantial, is an insufficient incentive for Defendants to cease infringing,” said a Zenimax lawyer in legal documents shared by UploadVR. “Just minutes after the jury revealed its verdict, Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, publicly stated that the jury’s verdict of a half billion dollars was “not material to [Facebook’s] financials.”
In a statement, Facebook expressed its own disappointment in both this latest development and the earlier ruling, saying, “Zenimax’s motion does not change the fact that the verdict was legally flawed and factually unwarranted. We look forward to filing our own motion to set aside the jury’s verdict and, if necessary, filing an appeal that will allow us to put this litigation behind us.”