After almost three days of deliberation, a Dallas jury has reached a decision based on three weeks of testimony. The jury awarded ZeniMax half a billion dollars because it concluded that Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey violated a non-disclosure agreement that he was bound to.
As reported by Polygon, the North Texas jury's verdict is in favor of the plaintiff, but interestingly enough, not because of the crux of the lawsuit. ZeniMax originally filed a complaint alleging that Oculus misappropriated trade secrets in developing its Rift virtual reality headset. The jury did not find this to be true.
While it was awarded $500 million, ZeniMax asked jurors to consider a $4 billion verdict -- $2 billion in compensation for misappropriated trade secrets and an additional $2 billion in punitive damages. The jury obviously didn't find the need to excessively punish for intentional wrongdoing. (However, there is a case to made based on the fact that the judge granted the motion to ask for punitives in the first place.)
What immediate effect this has on both companies is relatively unclear at the moment. As Polygon notes, Oculus parent company Facebook is set to announce its quarter four earnings after the market closes today. Facebook obviously has a lot of money, but $500 million is still a substantial hit.
This probably isn't the end of the Oculus and ZeniMax drama. Oculus is almost certainly considering an appeal. If that happens, Oculus will be likely be forced to post a substantial bond upon appeal -- a guarantee of sorts that the money will be there for the plaintiff in the event that the appeal also goes ZeniMax's way. Or, as we saw in the Gawker and Hulk Hogan matter, there's a significant chance that they settle first, thus mitigating the risk for both parties and cutting down on the cost of continued litigation.
Oculus lawsuit ends with half billion dollar judgment awarded to ZeniMax [Polygon]
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