Meta sued in Western District of Texas: Quest headsets now targeted in at least four VR patent infringement suits

Context:

• Founded in 2019 by educator and entrepreneur Ethan Fieldman, CurioXR describes itself as a “mission-driven” education company, which supplies schools with augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies to enable “immersive learning”. The company’s app is utilized with Meta Quest headsets in K-12 schools (for pupils aged 7-18), as well as universities, across the U.S. and abroad – all at no cost. CurioXR’s hand-tracking and direct-touch technology allows students to engage with 3D models in subjects such as anatomy and chemistry, and build their own molecular models, for example.
• In 2019, Meta released its first-ever VR headset: Quest. It has since released several updated models, and is currently selling its Quest 3 and Quest 3S models. The company currently faces at least three ongoing patent infringement lawsuits over its VR headsets in the U.S., with an additional one settled a couple of years ago.

What’s new: CurioXR has sued Meta in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging the infringement of two of its patents related to “direct touch” technologies (full complaint below box). The feature allows users to “grab”, “pinch”, and “drag” using hand gestures more easily within the technology.

Direct impact: This complaint targets a core part of Meta’s modern VR user experience – and something that the company highly values. CurioXR’s complaint states that, upon the feature’s debut in 2023, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally touted the “direct touch” feature on his Instagram feed, highlighting it as a “major advancement” for the Quest platform (Mark Zuckerberg Instagram post). The post accumulated over 150,000 likes and “widespread positive feedback”, the complaint reads. CurioXR’s complaint comes with a permanent injunction request, but it is difficult for a VR app maker to get an injunction against a device maker, and Meta will likely argue that there is no direct competition. Additionally, CurioXR is a relatively small player in this space, and this appears to be its first-ever patent infringement complaint.

Wider ramifications: This is not the first time Meta has been targeted in a patent infringement suit because of its Quest headsets. The company was also sued by Immersion Corporation in 2022 over six of its patents – and the two reached a settlement with a licensing agreement two years ago (February 14, 2024 Immersion press release). The company is also currently defending patent infringement suits targeting the Quest products by Deka Products in the District of New Hampshire and Gumbinner in the Southern District of Florida. Separately, the company is also embroiled in a multi-billion-dollar smart eyewear patent infringement lawsuit with Solos Technology (January 26, 2026 ip fray article), which targets its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.