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NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) – A federal jury in Detroit ordered Ford Motor Co ( FN ) to pay Versata Software Inc $104.6 million in damages for breaching a 2004 licensing contract and misappropriating secrets of trade.
Jurors deliberated for two days before finding Ford liable on Wednesday, following a 15-day trial.
Versata, based in Austin, Texas, said it licensed its automotive software to Ford from 1998 to 2015, helping the automaker’s engineers and marketing agents collaborate and design vehicles with “seamless real time update” worldwide.
It said Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford began copying its software after growing tired of paying millions of dollars in annual licensing fees, and in 2014 rejected a “final” offer to license Versata’s core software. at a cost of $17 million per year.
More than $82.2 million of the jury’s award was for breach of contract, with the remaining $22.4 million for trade secret misappropriation.
“While we respect the jury’s decision, we believe the facts and the law do not support this outcome,” Ford said in a statement. “Ford will appeal the verdict.”
Versata’s attorney Dan Webb, a partner at Winston & Strawn, said the jury awarded about 85% of what the company was seeking, after Ford lifted what he described as a “bogus” defense that it owns Versata’s trade secrets.
“It’s a very favorable verdict, and we’re pleased,” Webb said in an interview Thursday.
The trial began in April 2015, when Ford sought a court order that it was not infringing Versata’s intellectual property.
The case is Versata Software Inc et al v Ford Motor Co, US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, No. 15-10628.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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