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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (19672)	5/29/2003 10:34:44 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

I am a consultant to one of the 4 large law firms defending IBM in this lawsuit...It looks like the judge wants the CEOs to meet... _____________________________________________________ Judge orders CEOs to seek software-dispute truce BY JEFF BENNETT DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER May 28, 2003 Two titans of technology are to meet face-to-face in Detroit next week in an attempt to end a long fight over allegedly stolen software codes. Fourteen months after Compuware Corp. accused IBM of copying its programming, a federal judge has ordered Peter Karmanos Jr., chief executive officer of Michigan's largest high-tech company, and IBM CEO Samuel J. Palmisano to attend a June 4 settlement conference. Karmanos would not comment on the conference. Joyce Lagas, an IBM spokeswoman, said the company does not comment on litigation. Compuware charges that IBM's software products had the same glitches as earlier versions of Compuware's software. The Farmington Hills-based company seeks unspecified monetary damages. A second suit filed in July 2002, claims IBM, which also makes software, also used its dominance in the market to undercut competitors on prices. IBM has denied the charges and filed six counterclaims alleging patent infringement on its software. The case has racked up at least $23 million in court costs for Compuware in the last eight months, Compuware officials said this month. IBM has not reported how much it has spent on the case. Money aside, the legal battle nicks an already tenuous relationship in the high-tech world, where companies routinely exchange top-secret information. Such exchanges allow companies like Compuware to make software that runs on IBM's computers. Because IBM makes competing software, IBM and Compuware partners and competitors. Almost all the mainframe software Compuware sells is used by customers with IBM mainframes. Compuware's mainframe software sales account for about 35 percent of its revenue. Attorney John Trentacosta, litigation chair of Foley & Lardner in Detroit, said more than 90 percent of business litigation is usually settled out of court. "I would expect the CEOs will play a significant role in the whole process and not merely speak through their attorneys," Trentacosta said. "I think the judge wants the CEOs there because he perceives it to be the best opportunity to achieve a viable commercial settlement." Trentacosta said Karmanos, Palmisano and the attorneys most likely would meet with U.S. District Judge George Steeh in his chambers, and Steeh would look for some compromise. Richard Kaufman, a former Wayne County Circuit Court judge from 1981 to 1996 and chief judge of the court from 1986 to 1994, said he has acted as a mediator in hundreds of these types of conferences. "It depends a lot on whether both are looking to put this behind them and move on or whether they have done a calculated analysis about whether the reward is worth the risk," he said. "I have had cases where the CEOs say let's get a business deal done and go out and do what's best to sell our product and not pay hundreds of millions of dollars to our attorneys. Other times, the CEOs are so mad they want to continue to punish each other." Kaufman couldn't call how this case might play out. "It is difficult in intense business litigation to have compromise more than posturing." Contact JEFF BENNETT at 313-222-8769 or jbennett@freepress.com.