Facebook loses $500m Oculus virtual reality case

A US court has ordered Facebook and other defendants to pay $500m after finding they unlawfully used a firm’s virtual reality technology.

The jury found Oculus, which Facebook bought in 2014, used computer code belonging to video game developer Zenimax to launch its own VR headset.

Oculus said it was “disappointed” and would appeal against the ruling.

The case threatened to overshadow Facebook’s latest results, which showed it enjoyed a strong end to the year.

Facebook’s net profit more than doubled to $3.6bn in the fourth quarter.

The social network was helped by 53% growth in advertising revenues, and said it was on course to hit two billion users in the first half of 2017.

Shortly before the results came out, the court awarded Zenimax damages from Facebook, Oculus and Oculus executives following a three-week trial.

Zenimax argued that its early innovations in virtual reality were unlawfully copied when Oculus built its own headset, the 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.

The co-founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey, was also found to have broken a non-disclosure agreement with the firm.

However, the jury ruled that none of the defendants misappropriated Zenimax’s trade secrets. An Oculus spokesperson said: “The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole Zenimax’s trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favour.”

The firm did not comment on the $500m damages.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testified last month that “the idea that Oculus products are based on someone else’s technology is just wrong”.

Zenimax, which owns id Software, a video games developer, was suing Facebook for $2bn.

Along with the claims against Palmer Luckey, it alleged that John Carmack, co-founder of id, took intellectual property belonging to Zenimax when he left the firm to join Oculus as its full-time chief technology officer.

Virtual reality is only a small part of Facebook’s current business, but is seen as important to the firm’s strategy over the next 10 years.

Most of Facebook’s fourth-quarter revenue - which jumped 54% to $27.6bn - came from adverts on its social network.

“Facebook had another stellar quarter, delivering record revenue, user growth and profitability, as it rides the shift of advertising to online,” said Martin Garner, a senior analyst at CCS Insight.

“However it expects advertising growth to slow in 2017, so it expects to be less profitable this year.”

Other challenges that Facebook face this year include a changing approach to privacy in Europe, an uncertain business landscape in the US and challenges in China, Mr Garner said.

The social network has also been widely criticised after some users complained that fake news on its platform had influenced the US presidential election.

In a call with analysts on Wednesday, Facebook executives signalled it would tackle the problem through the use of more artificial intelligence.

They also said many of Facebook’s new users were in India, where telecoms operators had offered free data packages for Facebook traffic.

For the full year, Facebook grew its net profit by 177% to $10.2bn.

INDIA Road victim bleeds to death as bystanders film

Footage of a teenage victim of a hit-and-run accident pleading with unresponsive onlookers to take him to hospital has caused shock in India.

Local media reported people gathered around and took pictures and videos of the injured teen, but did not help him.

Anwar Ali, 17, was taken to hospital around half an hour after his bicycle collided with a bus in Karnataka state.

He bled to death. Doctors say he could have survived if he had received medical care sooner.

The incident in Koppal district in Karnataka has revived controversy about people being reluctant to help road accident victims in India.

Some activists argue that it is not a lack of compassion but an entire system stacked against helping road victims.

“The foremost reason is intimidation by police,” safety campaigner Piyush Tewari said last year.

“Oftentimes if you assist someone the police will assume you’re helping that person out of guilt.”

Apart from the fear of being falsely implicated, people also worry about becoming trapped as a witness in a court case - legal proceedings can be notoriously protracted in India.

And if they helped the victim get to hospital, they feared coming under pressure to stump up fees for medical treatment.

In May last year, India’s Supreme Court ruled that “good Samaritans” would be protected from harassment. Karnataka has also passed a law stipulating that people helping road accident victims would not be subjected to harassment.

However, correspondents say that many people are unaware of the rulings and do not trust police to follow them.

ROMANIA Protests grow over corruption decree

The Romanian capital, Bucharest, has seen one of its largest ever antigovernment protests after a decree was passed that could free dozens of officials jailed for corruption.

A crowd of at least 150,000 was reported outside government offices late on Wednesday and rallies took place in other towns and cities.

As the protesters dispersed, a group of football supporters threw firecrackers at police who responded with tear gas. The decree was passed late on Tuesday. The leftist government, led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu of the Social Democratic Party, only returned to power in December after protests forced its last leader from power in October 2015.

The new government says the decree is needed to ease overcrowding in prisons but Mr Grindeanu’s critics say he is trying to release allies convicted of corruption. The unfolding crisis prompted a cabinet minister to resign yesterday. Business and entrepreneurship minister Florin Jianu appealed on Facebook for stability to be restored and said he was standing down for the sake of his son. “How I am going to look him in the eyes...? Will I tell him that his father was a coward?” he wrote.

The protests came hours after the EU warned Romania against “backtracking” in its efforts to beat corruption.

“The fight against corruption needs to be advanced, not undone,” said European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

“We are following the latest developments in Romania with great concern.”

The emergency decree decriminalises several offences and makes abuse of power punishable by incarceration only if the sums involved are more than €44,000.

One immediate beneficiary would be the PSD leader, Liviu Dragnea, who faces charges of defrauding the state of €24,000. Others due for release include elected officials and magistrates. The protests began several days ago, attracting the support of centreright President Klaus Iohannis. He was part of a judicial watchdog’s decision on Wednesday to challenge the decree in the constitutional court.

Mr Dragnea, 54, has become a focal point for the protesters and is already barred from office because of an earlier suspended jail sentence for voter fraud.

The protesters massing in Bucharest on Wednesday night chanted “Resign” and “Thieves, thieves”.

“Our chances are small but it is important to fight,” said architect Gabriela Constantin.

Another protester, Nicolae Stancu, said: “We came to protect our country against criminals who tried to dismiss the rule of law in Romania; to protect our rights and interests, not their obscure interests.”

Demonstrators accused local football hooligans loyal to the ruling party of trying to sabotage their protest by targeting police. Witnesses said that a group of at least 100 “ultras” threw smoke bombs and stones at police, leaving two police officers and two protesters hurt.

President Iohannis praised the conduct of protesters across the country and criticised the authorities’ handling of the groups that, as he put it, tried to “break” the Bucharest demonstration.