NEW YORK – A federal jury in Detroit ordered Ford Motor Co to pay Versata Software Inc $104.6 million in damages for breaching a 2004 licensing contract and misappropriating commerce secrets and techniques.
Jurors deliberated over two days earlier than holding Ford liable on Wednesday, following a 15-day trial.
Versata, based mostly in Austin, Texas, mentioned it licensed its automotive software program to Ford from 1998 to 2015, serving to the automaker’s engineers and advertising and marketing brokers collaborate on and design automobiles with “seamless real time updates” worldwide.
It mentioned Ford started copying its software program after rising weary of paying hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in annual licensing charges, and in 2014 rejected a “final” supply to license Versata’s main software program for $17 million a 12 months.
More than $82.2 million of the jury award was for breach of contract, with the remaining $22.4 million for commerce secret misappropriation. Versata’s damages skilled testified that the corporate suffered $59.9 million in commerce secret damages.
“While we respect the jury’s decision, we believe the facts and the law do not support this outcome,” Ford mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday. “Ford will appeal the verdict.”
Lawyers for Versata didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The litigation started in April 2015, when Ford sought a court docket order that it didn’t infringe Versata’s mental property.
Source: www.autonews.com