Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took his turn being questioned in the case brought by ZeniMax against Oculus and its management.
ZeniMax is the former employer of Oculus Chief Technology Officer John Carmack, and it is accusing the Facebook-owned company of stealing trade secrets and destroying evidence, while also claiming ZeniMax as “the visionary developers of breakthrough VR technology.”
“Oculus products are based on Oculus technology,” Zuckerberg said in a Dallas court today. “We are highly confident in Oculus technology. And the idea that Oculus technology is based on someone else’s technology is wrong.”
Zuckerberg noted “if the key people hadn’t joined,” including John Carmack, “we wouldn’t have closed the deal.” Zuckerberg also described how he was convinced he needed to buy Oculus, saying he met with the company twice and the second time was much higher fidelity, convincing him “it was possible to create a good VR experience in the next 5 years.”
— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) January 17, 2017
“We want to get closer to this kind of perfect representation, so you can capture a moment you had.” Zuck, on Virtual Reality.
— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) January 17, 2017
ZM lawyer has handed Zuck Luckey’s NDA with ZeniMax from 2014. Now walking through snippets of it with him.
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) January 17, 2017
Facebook released the following statement about the case previously: “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.”
Carmack answered questions last week, saying “Palmer [Luckey] provided the system” while a lawyer for ZeniMax countered, claiming “Palmer provided the simple lenses.”
Editor’s Note: We’ve removed sentences regarding the cost of acquiring Oculus from the above report while we reach out to Oculus for clarification. Writer Garrett Glass is in a Dallas courthouse this week following what’s going on for UploadVR, though the use of electronic devices is restricted and live-tweeting not allowed. Stay tuned for more updates as the case continues.
