Versata saps $139m out of SAP
Pockets rather more than it actually asked for
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SAP has to pay Versata Software $139m following a court decision that it is infringing on five of Versata's patents.
Versata's lawyers had only asked for $100m or so, according to Bloomberg, but got a bonus $39m from the Texas Jury after it dismissed SAP's claim that it wasn't infringing patents, and that the patents should be ruled invalid because the ideas they protected were too obvious.
The case has been rumbling on for a couple of years now, hinging on Versata-owned patents that cover mechanisms for pricing products. Versata's lawyers told Bloomberg that they will now be seeking an order barring the infringement.
Texas is known to be particularly friendly to patent holders, particularly East Texas where the jury is "much less likely to have a member with any technical training or education", as the Texas Lawyer magazine puts it.
SAP isn't giving up just yet: the company told the newswire it is "reviewing its legal options", but with dropping revenues and expected losses in software sales, a jury that awards the patent holder $39 million more than it asked for is the last thing SAP needs. ®
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COMMENTS
Oooh it makes me blood boil!
Perhaps the same Texan jury that has only just deemed Microsoft infringed patents by using XML in Word. This one is even more annoying because of SAP's stance opposing software patents.
How long still
This is really getting boring, the stupid patents affair. When will US change the law?
More about on this issue, Versata has apparently a system to price systems and software entities depending on the sold quantity. They have a software that allows you to define your own rules for that, depending on industry, channel, geography. But they don't have the rules predefined, the customer has to define them. So if they won the claim, I can only imagine that maybe some SAP subsidiary really used that software - anyone knows where to find more details?
Surely......
It isnt beyond the whit of the Jury selection process to get 12 technically savvy men & women together in the same room to hear "technical" trials?
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