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Oculus founder must face lawsuit over use of confidential info

However, he won't deal with many of the allegations.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey isn't going to escape that lawsuit over the alleged misuse of confidential data. A judge has ruled that Luckey has to face the core claim, which accuses him of breaching a contract with his former employer (Total Recall Technologies) by using its proprietary knowledge to get the early Oculus Rift off the ground. However, he is dodging a few bullets in the process -- the judge simultaneously tossed out several of the other claims, including fraud.

This doesn't mean that Luckey is guilty, and he maintains that Total Recall is simply trying to get some of that sweet, sweet Facebook cash for itself. Whether or not that's true, the plaintiff has a big challenge ahead: it has to show that Luckey was drawing on specific technology, not just his general experience, to get the Oculus Rift going. There are plenty of instances where people quit companies to build competitive products, after all, and offering competition to your old company isn't illegal by itself.

[Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images]