Rosetta Stone Ltd provides software programs which help people learn new languages. Courses of varying difficulty are available, in numerous languages, and are marketed to consumers in bright yellow boxes via print ads (who could forget the plight of the hardworking farm boy, who must quickly learn Italian to impress a supermodel?), and of course…
Thursday, June 27, Canadian software-holding company Pan-Afric Holdings Ltd. sued Ernst & Young LLP in U.S. District Court in Maryland for over $10 million in damages, claiming the accounting giant made mathematical errors in preparing a software valuation report on which Pan-Afric detrimentally relied. In 1993, for $5 million, Pan-Afric purchased an interest (including all…
One of the biggest mistakes we see clients make when they are negotiating a software license agreement with SAP is that they focus solely on pricing and discounts to the exclusion of other important issues contained in the SAP software license agreement. Focusing solely on pricing while ignoring the other terms and conditions contained in…
From the ERP and More! Blog – the top 7 ERP Implementation Analogies: 1. The implementation will be like open heart surgery while the patient is still alive and working. 2. An ERP implementation is like the corporate equivalent of a brain transplant. 3. I think of ERP implementations like mountain climbing: No two are the…
A tiny Palatine, IL-based software company has sued giant Google Inc., alleging that Google misappropriated the company’s trade secrets. LimitNone LLC, a software startup with fewer than five employees, developed a software tool to help users of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Outlook email client move their data to Google’s online programs. The complaint alleges that copies of…
SAP has agreed to pay i2 $83 million to settle a patent infringement lawsuit brought by i2 in 2006. According to an i2 SEC filing, the settlement was reached on June 23. A copy of the SEC filing is located here.
This is the first in a series of posts dealing with the SAP contract negotiation process. SAP’s market dominance often leaves customers with little negotiating leverage. Companies that have a well developed negotiation strategy, an understanding of SAP’s typical concessions, pricing structure and contractual “pain points,” greatly increase their chances of successfully negotiating with SAP. The…
An earlier post cautioned trademark owners about official-looking correspondence that appears to be from the USPTO. These mailings are in fact solicitations for enrollment in optional trademark services, some of which may have some value to some owners, but most of which are purely superfluous. Recently, our clients have received a different species of these…
An interesting video from last year discussing the history of Chicago-based Midway Games’ Mortal Kombat series located here.
Chicago designer Mario Pinto (whose clients include Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey) is featured in today’s Wall Street Journal. Of note is the fact that Ms. Pinto’s first business was not successful. In response she surrounded herself with mentors in finance, law and other areas outside of fashion. The importance of assembling a team of…