Versata Attorney Lanny J. Davis Calls On Ford Shareholders To Demand Full Disclosure Of Ford's Alleged Theft Of Valuable Software Technology Under Former CEO Mark Fields

DETROIT, June 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lanny J. Davis, attorney for Versata Software, Inc. accused former Ford, CEO Mark Fields of misleading investors during its May 11 "virtual" shareholders meeting by concealing material risks to the company involving Versata's billion-dollar federal law suit against Ford.  Davis said it appears Fields withheld information from shareholders that could affect Ford's stock value and perhaps even impact future Ford's sales and product development. 

"We understand Ford has no backup software if it suffers an injunction from its use of copy-cat product development technology that Versata alleges was stolen," Davis said.  "This should be alarming to shareholders. This means that Ford's production capabilities and sales could be significantly disrupted, imperiling profits." 

Davis said Ford touts itself as a technology company, but failed to tell shareholders it stole Versata's valuable technology rather than inventing it, according to the suit. 

Davis asked: "Who in the high-tech community would consider working for a company that copies rather than innovates?"

Davis also challenged Ford Vice President Elena Ford, who served on a senior oversight technology development committee, to explain her role in the alleged secret plan to steal Versata's technology. She is known to have told one Ford manager while the copy-cat program was secretly being developed, "we don't want to let Versata have us over a barrel." Davis said this suggests, "why pay for it when you can steal it?"

Davis added this is similar to when Ford recently made Arconic share its aluminum steel-bonding patent with a major competitor, according to Arconic's largest investor.

"There seems to be a pattern here regarding Ford and new technology – steal it or bully technology vendors, rather than working as partners," Davis said.  "At the very least, shareholders deserve transparency from Ford about possible material risks to the company from this pattern of conduct by management."  For more information please go to www.truthaboutford.com

This is in reference to case number 15-10628, Ford Motor Company v. Versata Software, Inc., in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

About Versata Software, Inc.
With a global presence covering 45 countries, Versata Software, Inc. and its affiliates solve the most complex business problems for the world's largest organizations. Versata's family of companies includes a number of leading enterprise solution providers, including Versata, Inc., Instance, Inc., Artemis International Solutions Corporation, Genzyme Corporation, Clear Technology, Inc., Everest Software, Tenfold Corporation, Cora Software, Inc., Evolutionary Technologies, Inc., and Alter Point, Inc. Versata distinguishes itself in the software industry by focusing on customer priorities as driven by value delivered. Versata's market-leading Customer Success Program ensures customer involvement in product decisions and business priorities and provides twice-yearly opportunities for customers to score Versata's performance against commitments. Versata's world-class engineering capability ensures substantive and valuable product releases, thereby ensuring customer success. Versata's relentless focus on customer priorities, coupled with an unmatched global engineering capability, provides Versata customers continuous innovation and repeatable value propositions. For more information, visit www.versata.com.

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SOURCE Versata Software

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