After acquiring Oculus about two years ago by Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly in trouble, as he will have to appear in court on charges involving stolen technology and a false origin story.
The story of Oculus supposedly begins when a young, ambitious hacker, Palmer Luckey, creates a company with a minimal budget that is today one of the most valuable in the world. 
But ZeniMax, a company that owns game studios like Bethesda and others, tells a different story. The lawsuit claims that the Oculus origin story “is being spread in the press by a false and fanciful story that Luckey, who claims to be the brilliant inventor of virtual reality technology, developed it in his parents’ garage. In reality, this story was completely and utterly false.”
The company claims that John Carmack, who works as a designer and has developed huge titles such as Doom and Quake, began corresponding with Luckey in 2012.
The lawsuit describes Luckey’s device as “primitive” and credits Carmack with making it a viable product. According to ZeniMax, Luckey’s “RIFT” device was a “crude prototype that lacked a head mount, specialized virtual reality software, built-in motion sensors, and other critical features for the capabilities needed to create a viable product.”
Carmack now claims that his employment contract allowed him to join Oculus, as it was not a direct competitor to ZeniMax. He claims that he pitched the idea to CEO Robert Altman in an effort to build and sell the device. The company refused to invest in his idea to fund an early stage Oculus, an investment that would have brought in tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.
“Altman decided not to pursue the opportunity that ZeniMax was giving him before the VR revolution,” according to Carmack’s deposition.
Before his departure from Oculus and ZeniMax, Carmack is alleged to have stolen thousands of files from the company (which were later used in the development of the Oculus Rift). He also claims that Facebook knew about the stolen intellectual property before acquiring Oculus in 2014.
Facebook of course denies any wrongdoing.
Jury selection, which will consist of a panel of nine jurors (three men and six women), began Monday. ZeniMax is seeking $2 billion in damages.
