Early bird prices are coming to an end soon... ⏰ Grab your tickets before January 17

This article was published on March 31, 2017

Oculus cofounder leaves Facebook amid legal firestorm


Oculus cofounder leaves Facebook amid legal firestorm

Palmer Luckey, after years of being a prominent face at Facebook and the figurehead of Oculus, is leaving the company.

Luckey has been at the center of a legal battle between Facebook and ZeniMax Media for the last couple of months. ZeniMax brought suit against both Facebook and Luckey for theft of intellectual property and disseminating a false origin story for the Rift as entirely Luckey’s invention — the Oculus, ZeniMax claimed, was based on its software.

The court passed judgement in ZeniMax’s favor. The ruling stated that Luckey in particular owed ZeniMax $50 million for false designation — meaning he misrepresented himself or his product.

Zenimax recently brought more legal action against Facebook to keep it from selling Oculus VR code.

Luckey was a cofounder of Oculus, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. In a statement published by Business Insider, Facebook said, “We’re thankful for everything [Luckey] did for Oculus and VR, and we wish him all the best.”

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with