Facebook ordered to pay $500m in virtual reality case

Tech giant Facebook has lost its $500m virtual reality legal case over its use of Oculus technology, after a court found that it illegally stole code game developer Zenimax to make its own headset.

Facebook bought Oculus in 2014 as Mark Zuckerberg's firm attempted to break into the market for VR, but the result following the three-week trial is a blow to the company's use of the technology.

The news came as Facebook announced its quarterly results, in which it produced a strong showing to double its net profit to $3.6bn for the last three months of 2016.

Zenimax argued during the trial that its innovations related to VR technology were copied during the design and production of Oculus' headset Rift.

"We are pleased that the jury in our case in the US District Court in Dallas has awarded Zenimax $500m for defendants' unlawful infringement of our copyrights and trademarks," said Zenimax chief executive Robert Altman.

Oculus did not mention the $500m damages award when a statement was released by a spokesperson, who said the result of the case cleared them from the crux of the case.

"The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole Zenimax's trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favour," the spokesperson said.

The statement echoed comments from Zuckerberg, who testified in the trial last month in defence of Facebook and Oculus.

"The idea that Oculus products are based on someone else's technology is just wrong," Zuckerberg said.