Judge gives go ahead of Palmer Luckey breach of contract claim

The founder of Oculus Rift looks likely to end up in court over allegations that he used knowledge and technologies learned from a previous role in setting up his virtual reality empire.

Reuters reports that US District Judge William Alsup has ruled that a breach of contract claim levelled against Palmer Luckey by former employer Total Recall Technologies can go ahead. However, Alsup also dismissed other claims alleging fraud and breaches of confidentiality.

Total Recall hired Luckey to build a prototype VR headset in 2011. It claims that feedback received in the development of that product was used as the basis for his own designs for Oculus Rift.

Luckey has dismissed the accusations and labelled the lawsuit "a brazen attempt to secure for itself a stake in Oculus VR’s recent multi-billion dollar acquisition by Facebook".

Oculus is also embroiled in a legal row with Zenimax, which alleges that former employee John Carmack stole trade secrets for use in his role at Oculus.