In August 2009, a jury in the Eastern District of Texas awarded Austin-based Versata Software a $139 million judgment against another software conglomerate, SAP America. However, a motion that followed in October 2009 led to a ruling filed Thursday in which federal judge, Judge Charles Everingham IV, set aside the $139 million judgment and ordered that a new trial for damages be held.
Jury selection for the new trial is slated for April 29. The IDG News Service said that Judge Everingham found the court had “erred when it admitted [Chistopher] Bakewell’s testimony and his damages model. That error affected SAP’s substantial rights.”
The judge’s comments were in response to SAP’s motion that was filed in October 2009. SAP argued Christopher Bakewell’s expert testimony should have been stricken because of the use of his improper methodology. The motion stated, “Mr. Bakewell improperly relied upon the entire market value of SAP’s accused products … in urging the jury to award a running royalty of $70 for every one of the 2,792,199 SAP user ‘seats’ included in his royalty base.”
Originally, Versata alleged that SAP’s Business Suite software and services violated several of Versata’s patents when it was formerly called Trilogy Software. Versata sells product configuration products as well as business rules management and other products.
The original trial lasted seven days and the jury reached its verdict after deliberating for six hours. The jury came to a decision that SAP had infringed upon Versata’s two software product patents, U.S. Patent No. 6,553,350 B2 and U.S. Patent No. 5,878,400 when SAP sold and distributed their SAP CRM and ERP products.
Since Versata’s beginning in 1995, it had produced revolutionary technology that efficiently processes complex pricing structures in their patented multi-level pricing tables that SAP allegedly infringed upon.
Versata announced at the end of the jury trial that they were intending to seek a permanent injunction against SAP to prevent them from infringing on their patents in the future.
Gregory D. Jordan is an Austin business attorney, Austin employment lawyer, and Austin business litigation lawyer. To learn more, visit Theaustintriallawyer.com.
