Zuckerberg to Testify at Oculus Theft Trial

A two-year-old lawsuit that alleges that Facebook-owned virtual reality startup Oculus stole the technology it implemented in its Oculus Rift VR headset will culminate this Tuesday (17th January) when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies in court. The suit was filed by ZeniMax Media – the owner of game developers BattleCry Studios, Bethesda Softworks, and id Software – in May 2014 and the public trial began in a Dallas court on 9th January 2017. ZeniMax has confirmed to Business Insider that Zuckerberg will testify in the coming days – a protest from Facebook to prevent Zuckerberg from appearing in court was thrown out by the judge – set to be followed by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey.

Facebook and Oculus deny the accusation that the latter stole technology from ZeniMax to develop the Rift, calling out the plaintiff for feeling sour that it passed on investing in the company before its $2 billion acquisition by Facebook.

“Oculus and its founders have invested a wealth of time and money in VR because we believe it can fundamentally transform the way people interact and communicate,” an Oculus spokesperson told Business Insider. “We’re disappointed that another company is using wasteful litigation to attempt to take credit for technology that it did not have the vision, expertise, or patience to build.”