Dallas, Texas jury ordered Facebook's virtual-reality subsidiary including the two of its founder to pay $500 million to video game maker, Zenimax. The verdict was imposed after Oculus founder Palmer Luckey violated the intellectual property rights of Zenimax.

According to Forbes, the case was a violation of a non-disclosure agreement and claims the copyrights and trademarks which were stolen from ZeniMax. Dallas Federal Court immediate ordered Oculus to pay $50 million for copyright infringement, $200 for violating a non-disclosure agreement and $50 million using ZeniMax trademarks without consent.

Both Oculus co-founders Brendan Iribe and Palmer Luckey were ordered to pay $50 million and $150 million for the said violations. The penalty that they court gave is about one-fourth of the $2 billion that Facebook paid when they bought Oculus, a developer of virtual reality gear and software two years ago. Oculus, on the other hand, vowed to appeal the decision of the jury.

Despite the huge penalty, Facebook's stock was not affected. Its shares increased to 2 percent after the release of the fourth-quarter earnings report that beat the company's expectations. ZeniMax Chief Executive Robert Altman said that they want to block Oculus and Facebook from using their code.

According to ABC News, Zenimax has a lot of powerful and famous connections. The company's board includes President Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert, Hall of Fame baseball player Cal Ripken Jr., CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves, and blockbuster movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

"While we regret we had to litigate to vindicate our rights, it was necessary to take a stand against companies that engage in illegal activity in their desire to get control of new, valuable technology," ZeniMax said.

During a court hearing, Facebook founder Zuckerberg denied that Oculus had stolen any of ZeniMax's technology. He even revealed that buying Oculus would cost more than just the initial $2 billion acquisition price. Zuckerberg added that Facebook is willing to pay $1 billion just to retain and motivate Oculus workers.

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