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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN 

SOUTHERN DIVISION 

FORD MOTOR COMPANY, 

 Plaintiff, Case No. 15-cv-10628 

 (consolidated with Case No. 15-11624) 

v. Hon. Matthew F. Leitman 

VERSATA SOFTWARE, INC. et al.

 Defendants. 

__________________________________________________________________/ 

ORDER AMENDING ORDER RESOLVING PLAINTIFF’S 

MOTION TO COMPEL IDENTITY OF ASSERTED 

COMBINATION TRADE SECRETS (ECF No. 786) 

 On September 28, 2021, the Court issued an order resolving Plaintiff Ford 

Motor Company’s motion to compel Defendants to identify the elements of their 

asserted combination trade secrets. (See Order, ECF No. 786.) On page five of the 

Court’s order, it identified the elements of the “MCA” trade secret as follows: 

The elements of the MCA trade secret are: (1) Automatic 

Generation of Accurate and Augmented Configurations 

(i.e. Feature Strings) as Baselines for Parts and Materials 

Forecasting, (2) Use of Feature Optionalities in Feature 

String Generation to Isolate Parts Cost, and (3) Inclusion 

of Dynamic Effectivity for Feature Strings. The content of 

each of these elements of the MCA trade secret shall be 

determined solely with reference to the corresponding 

section of Dr. Malek’s expert report describing that 

element. More specifically, the content of the Automatic 

Generation of Accurate and Augmented Configurations 

(i.e. Feature Strings) as Baselines for Parts and Materials 

Forecasting element of the MCA trade secret shall be 

determined solely with reference to section 9.2.1 of Dr. 

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Malek’s report. (See id., PageID.29649-29651.) The 

content of the Automatic Generation of Accurate and 

Augmented Configurations (i.e. Feature Strings) as 

Baselines for Parts and Materials Forecasting element of 

the MCA trade secret shall be determined solely with 

reference to section 9.2.2 of Dr. Malek’s report. (See id.,

PageID.29651-29653.) Finally, the content of the 

Inclusion of Dynamic Effectivity for Feature Strings 

element of the MCA trade secret shall be determined 

solely with reference to section 9.2.3 of Dr. Malek’s 

report. (See id., PageID.29653.) 

(Id., PageID.56266.) 

 On February 25, 2022, Versata informed the Court that the paragraph quoted 

above contained a typographical error. More specifically, the order erroneously 

repeated the name of the first element of the MCA trade secret – “Automatic 

Generation of Accurate and Augmented Configurations (i.e. Feature Strings) as 

Baselines for Parts and Materials Forecasting” – twice. Versata asked the Court to 

amend the September 28 order to accurately describe the second element of the MCA 

trade secret, and Versata told the Court that Ford did not object to that amendment. 

 Accordingly, the paragraph on page five of the Court’s September 28, 2021, 

order is hereby amended and shall read as follows: 

The elements of the MCA trade secret are: (1) Automatic 

Generation of Accurate and Augmented Configurations 

(i.e. Feature Strings) as Baselines for Parts and Materials 

Forecasting, (2) Use of Feature Optionalities in Feature 

String Generation to Isolate Parts Cost, and (3) Inclusion 

of Dynamic Effectivity for Feature Strings. The content of 

each of these elements of the MCA trade secret shall be 

determined solely with reference to the corresponding 

Case 2:15-cv-10628-MFL-EAS ECF No. 806, PageID.56612 Filed 02/28/22 Page 2 of 3
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section of Dr. Malek’s expert report describing that 

element. More specifically, the content of the Automatic 

Generation of Accurate and Augmented Configurations 

(i.e. Feature Strings) as Baselines for Parts and Materials 

Forecasting element of the MCA trade secret shall be 

determined solely with reference to section 9.2.1 of Dr. 

Malek’s report. (See id., PageID.29649-29651.) The 

content of the Use of Feature Optionalities in Feature 

String Generation to Isolate Parts Cost element of the 

MCA trade secret shall be determined solely with 

reference to section 9.2.2 of Dr. Malek’s report (See id.,

PageID.29651-29653.) Finally, the content of the 

Inclusion of Dynamic Effectivity for Feature Strings 

element of the MCA trade secret shall be determined 

solely with reference to section 9.2.3 of Dr. Malek’s 

report. (See id., PageID.29653.) 

 IT IS SO ORDERED. 

 s/Matthew F. Leitman 

 MATTHEW F. LEITMAN 

Dated: February 28, 2022 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 

 I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing document was served upon the 

parties and/or counsel of record on February 28, 2022, by electronic means and/or 

ordinary mail. 

 s/Holly A. Ryan 

 Case Manager 

 (313) 234-5126 

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