Mark Zuckerberg headed recently to court to testify in a $2 billion lawsuit over claims the Oculus Rift was built with stolen technology. The 32-year-old swapped his typical hoodie, gray T-shirt and jeans for a crisp business suit as he defended Facebook’s VR headset in a Dallas court.
Oculus, which was bought by Facebook for $3 billion in March 2014, is currently being sued by ZeniMax over allegations the Rift was based on stolen trade secrets. The lawsuit, filed in May 2014, alleges that former id Software co-founder John Carmack stole the firm’s intellectual property when he left the company to become Oculus’ chief technology officer in 2013.
The billionaire told the court he had ‘never even heard of ZeniMax before’ and said his legal team would not be spending much time on something they didn’t think was credible. Facebook shipped the first Oculus Rift headsets in March 2016 at a price of $599.
Zenimax – the parent company of id Software which has produced iconic video games such as Doom – also claims Facebook purchased Oculus with ‘full awareness’ that Carmack allegedly stole the tech.
