Video game company Zenimax has settled its legal battle with Oculus parent Facebook putting an end to a 4 year clash between both companies over allegations of Oculus using “trade secrets, copyrighted computer code, and technical know-how relating to virtual reality technology” provided by Oculus CTO John Carmack who previously was at Zenimax after its acquisition of id Software, the video game developer he co-founded.

After the $3 billion Oculus acquisition, Zenimax took Facebook to the courts over alleged use of its intellectual property in development of key parts of Oculus technology, It claimed that Carmack helped hire several former ZeniMax/id Software employees who possessed technical knowledge of its VR technology that allowed them to rapidly fine-tune the VR testbed system used in creating the Oculus Rift.

Oculus CTO John Carmack Photograph by Drew “Prognar” Campbell on Flickr

$500 million was awarded by a jury as compensation to Zenimax for violation of a non-disclosure agreement by Luckey, a price later halved to $250 million after appeal, Zenimax fought against this decision but has now closed the case with a settlement between both parties.

Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe image credit : Sportsfile (Web Summit)

“We are pleased that a settlement has been reached and are fully satisfied by the outcome,” ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman said. “While we dislike litigation, we will always vigorously defend against any infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property by third parties.”

“We’re pleased to put this behind us and continue building the future of VR,” A Facebook spokesperson added. Terms of this settlement were not disclosed.