Facebook's virtual reality unit Oculus VR has been sued for allegedly incorporating California-based startup ImmersiON-VRelia's patented technology into its Rift VR headset without authorisation. The patent, referred to in the lawsuit, describes a method of generating left and right perspectives in a 3D video game.

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Oculus VR and the tech giant Facebook were sued on Thursday by Techno View IP Inc, a Newport Beach and California-based technology licensing firm for infringing the 3D imaging patent owned by the VR headset maker ImmersiON-VRelia. According to the complaint filed in a federal court in Delaware, ImmersiON-VRelia, which has offices in Spain and California, has agreed to let Techno View litigate the patent on its behalf.

Facebook is currently facing an impending $500 million verdict in a different lawsuit over its VR technology by video game developer ZeniMax Media Inc. The social networking giant was found in February to have used copyrighted computer code developed by video game designer John Carmack while he was employed at ZeniMax. Lawyers for Oculus and Facebook said that they would seek to have the verdict set aside.

The VR headsets made by ImmersiON-VRelia are similar to the Oculus Rift. Techno View said in its lawsuit that ImmersiON-VRelia's chief executive Manuel Gutierrez Novelo attained several patents between the years 2003 and 2006 on various aspects of VR technology.

Apart from its claim that Oculus and Facebook specifically infringed a patent held by ImmersiON-VRelia on the method of generating left and right perspectives in a 3D video game, Techno View said it might add more claims relating to other patents owned by ImmersiON-VRelia sometime later.

Facebook acquired Oculus for an estimated $3 billion in the year 2014. Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicted that virtual reality would be a part of people's daily lives, revolutionizing industries like education, media, and medicine.