A federal jury in Michigan found Wednesday that Ford Motor Co. breached a contract with Versata Software and misappropriated its trade secrets, awarding the software company a total of $104.65 million in damages.
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U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman in Detroit presided over the three week-long trial hinging on a 2004 agreement between the two companies involving software Versata developed to manage how components in Ford vehicles are configured during the assembly process.
The jury awarded $82.26 million on the breach of contract claims, finding that Ford breached the agreement by misusing and disclosing confidential information, reverse engineering Versata’s software for its own commercial use, and using it without a license.
In addition, the jury awarded $22.39 million on three out of four claims that Ford misappropriated three Versata trade secrets. The jurors did find however that Ford’s misappropriation was not willful and malicious.
The jury rejected Ford’s one counterclaim alleging that Versata breached their part in the contract by prohibiting Ford from continuing to use the software as part of the originally agreed upon terms.
Dan K. Webb, attorney for Versata, said Wednesday that “we were extremely pleased with the verdict.”
Webb said Versata requested that the jury award damages of $82 million and $127 million on the breach of contract claims and $60 million on the trade secret misappropriation claims.
Versata was hired by Ford in the late 1990s to develop software that could solve problems with its vehicle configurations that were leading to costly recalls and redesigns, according to the suit.
The two reached a 15-year agreement in 2004, but Ford terminated the agreement in 2014, claiming it had developed its own software to replace Versata. Webb told the jury that it as later discovered that Ford “stabbed us in the back,” and that the software it had secretly developed was interwoven with Versata’s own trade secrets.
“I told the jury that was very serious misconduct, which both was misappropriation of trade secrets and was breach of contract, and they agreed with me,” Webb stated.
A Ford representative said Wednesday that “while we respect the jury’s decision, we believe the facts and the law do not support this outcome. Ford will appeal the verdict.”
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Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/1543424/jury-hits-ford-with-105m-contract-and-trade-secrets-verdict
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