This decision followed a 15-day trial in Detroit, during which Ford was accused of trying to evade paying license fees by simply copying the Versata software.
A federal jury ordered Ford to pay Versata Software a total of $104.6 million in compensation for improper use of the software company’s product.
According to the decision, the automaker will pay $82.2 million for breach of contract with Versata and $22.4 million for misappropriation of trade secrets.
According to the Reuters news agency, the automaker worked with the company from 1998 to 2015. During this time, its engineers and marketing agents were assisted by Versata in developing vehicles with “seamless real-time updates” around the world.
“Versata representatives said that when Ford got tired of paying her millions of dollars in annual royalties, she simply copied her technology and stopped paying for the product.”
In 2014, it was revealed that Ford had rejected a “final” offer to license the Versata software for $17 million per year.
The carmaker in its statement expressed dissatisfaction with the jury’s decision. Although he states that he respects this decision, he believes that the facts and the law do not support this result. The automaker intends to appeal the verdict.
Source: carscoops.com