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February 24, 2017

ZeniMax files permanent Injunction against Facebook’s Oculus Rift

ZeniMax has filed for a permanent injunction against Facebook's Oculus Rift to prevent stolen code being used in the VR headset.

By Joe Clark

ZeniMax Media has filed a motion for a permanent injunction to bar Oculus Rift from using its technology.

The publisher made its request for an injunction with a Federal Court in Dallas to block Facebook owned Oculus Rift from using ZeniMax code in Oculus products. The news comes after jurors ruled Facebook should pay $500 million on Feb 1 for using the code in question.

The injunction would prevent certain games from being available on the Oculus headset. Oculus has already distributed the code among developers for the system and is already in use by previously released games.


In the filing, released on Thursday, ZeniMax said: “Defendants should not be permitted to continue using or distributing products that infringe ZeniMax’s copyrights — including Oculus products that use code derived from or developed with reference to ZeniMax’s code — as expressly covered by the NDA.”

“The NDA expressly provides for injunctive relief in the event of a breach.”

The filing also showed that ZeniMax is now seeking more than $1 billion in expanded damages and fees.

Oculus said: “ZeniMax’s motion does not change the fact that the verdict was legally flawed and factually unwarranted.”

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“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.”

ZeniMax initially sued Oculus in 2014, two months after the company was bought by Facebook for $3 billion and one year after John Carmack sold ID Software to Zenimax to begin working with Oculus. The publisher accused Carmack of developing crucial Oculus technology whilst still an employee at ZeniMax.

ZeniMax is best known as the parent company of Bethesda Softworks creator of the immensely popular Elder Scrolls series and later Fallout games. Fallout 4 generated $750 million on its release in 2015 and is currently being updated with VR support for Oculus competitor HTC Vive.

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