This article first appeared on The Am Law Litigation Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com
McKool Smith is on quite a roll, folks. In May, we told you about its $200 million patent verdict against Microsoft, which was augmented to $290 million this month by Tyler, Texas, federal district court judge Leonard Davis. The firm was also lead counsel to Visto, which in May reached an agreement to receive $267.5 million from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to settle a three-year patent dispute.
On Wednesday the firm scored yet another big win. A federal jury in Marshall, Texas, ruled that the German software vendor SAP should pay Versata Software, McKool's client, $138.64 million in damages for infringing two of its patents. The patents in question cover Versata's software that allows its customers to manage pricing for its products along complex distribution networks. Versata had asked the jury for $190 million.
McKool Smith partner Ted Stevenson, who was co-lead trial counsel with his colleague Sam Baxter, said that over the seven-day trial, the jurors took "copious notes" and really tried to understand the technology. "At the end of the day, we had good witnesses, some pretty good patents and we were able to explain the technology in a way the jurors could understand," said Stevenson.
Versata will also ask Judge T. John Ward for an injunction of SAP's infringing products, according to Stevenson.
At trial, SAP was represented by a trio of Howrey lawyers that included Paul Grewal, James Batchelder and Rusty Day. Day and Batchelder were partners at Day Casebeer Madrid and Batchelder before that firm merged with Howrey on July 1.
"Our attorneys are reviewing the legal options and we expect to file an appeal," said SAP spokesman, Andy Kendzie, according to PC World.
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