On Monday, a federal judge in Detroit overturned a jury verdict that ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay Versata Software Inc. $104.6 million for breaking a licensing contract

and misappropriating trade secrets. U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman claimed that while Versata provided enough evidence for a contract breach, it failed to offer evidence for the jurors to accurately determine damages.

The judge also stated that the jurors lacked the basis to determine how long Ford would have needed to develop the three trade secrets it allegedly stole, which also required the damages award to be voided. As a result, Leitman ordered Ford to pay Versata $3 for the breach of contract. Versata sued Ford after claiming that the automaker copied its software because it was tired of paying licensing fees, and after Ford refused an offer in 2014 to license its significant software for $17 million a year. The $104.6 million award was approximately 85% of what Versata had sought. Photo by Dave Parker, Wikimedia commons.