Marcus S. Harris

     Partner Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

P:312.404.7906

F:312.966.8599

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Marcus S. Harris Esq.

Marcus Harris is a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, one of the country’s oldest law firms. Since 1999 he has focused his practice on drafting and negotiating ERP related technology contracts and on recovering damages for clients in lawsuits involving failed ERP implementations.

Mr. Harris has developed one of the nation’s leading practices devoted to representing clients in lawsuits and threats of lawsuits involving failed ERP software implementations. Unlike most intellectual property litigators, he has extensive experience drafting and negotiating complex ERP and ERP related contracts. In addition to litigating failed ERP implementations, he represents companies nationwide in connection with drafting, negotiating and preparing software license agreements, software maintenance agreements, software development agreements, statements of work, consulting service agreements, RFPs and RFIs. He is a frequent speaker on and has taught continuing legal education courses on enterprise software and technology related issues.

Mr. Harris has extensive legal and related business experience in the technology industry. Prior to forming his own practice, he worked in the Legal/Contracts Department of SAP America and was Senior Corporate Counsel in charge of intellectual property at SSA Global Technologies (now Infor) where he developed and managed an extensive international trademark and patent portfolio, managed intellectual property litigation, conducted intellectual property due diligence and reviewed advertising material to verify compliance with legal requirements. During law school Mr. Harris completed an advanced externship at the United States Copyright Office in Washington D.C.

He is a member of the American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the Technology Executives Club. Mr. Harris is licensed to practice law in the state of Illinois and is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Colorado. He has also been admitted pro hac vice to various courts around the country.

Mr. Harris’ representative engagements include:

  • Representing a leading national pet supply distributor in a dispute with an ERP vendor in federal court.
  • Defending an international ERP vendor against allegations of fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract.
  • Successfully negotiating a multimillion dollar settlement with an international ERP vendor on behalf of a client whose ERP implementation was plagued with delays, a failed go-live and misrepresented functionality.
  • Representing clients in disputes involving failed ERP implementations before arbitration tribunals across the country.
  • Intellectual property due diligence associated with mergers and acquisitions for clients in the software industry.
  • Drafting and negotiating complex multimillion dollar software development and ERP licensing and software services deals with Fortune 100 companies for numerous clients across a number of different industry verticals.
  • Drafting and negotiating a one billion dollar software development, licensing and implementation project with an ERP vendor, a big three automaker and an international manufacturer and distributor of heavy equipment.
  • Managing a global intellectual property portfolio for an international ERP vendor.
  • Developing and implementing an open source software strategy for a global ERP vendor.
  • Defending a global sunglass design company against false allegations of copyright infringement made by an international luxury fashion design house.

Marcus Harris Interviews

Information Week

In the absence of basic planning and exquisite attention to contractual obligations, companies embarking on ERP deployment can end up in a much darker place: the courtroom. Marcus Harris explains to Information Week how to avoid this happening.