From ComputerWorld: Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been ordered to depose in an intellectual property dispute between Oculus and ZeniMax Media, as he has "unique knowledge" based on his decision to buy the wearable virtual reality technology company and its valuation.
ZeniMax sued Oculus in May 2014 for exploiting commercially intellectual property the games publisher allegedly shared under a non-disclosure agreement with Oculus, which enabled it to improve on its "crude prototype" of a virtual reality headset.
Facebook had asked last month for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas division to rule that Zuckerberg should not be asked to depose as the plaintiffs had demanded to depose him before taking a single other deposition in the case. A deposition is the recording of oral testimony from a witness outside a courtroom, usually used to discover the facts before the trial.
"This is clearly improper under the apex doctrine, which requires a party to demonstrate that a high-ranking corporate executive has unique, relevant personal knowledge before attempting to take their deposition," according to the Facebook filing. A litigant has to first exhaust less intrusive discovery options, it added.
View: Article @ Source Site
