Morningstar settles software piracy case

Morningstar reached an agreement with Business Logic, which had filed an intellectual property lawsuit against the research firm.

On the eve of going to trial, Morningstar Inc. has reached a preliminary settlement in an intellectual property lawsuit brought by Business Logic Corp., a 401(k) managed accounts software company.
A trial that had been scheduled to start Monday in Chicago to determine if Morningstar illegally replicated software owned by Business Logic has been called off.
Business Logic in 2009 filed a lawsuit against Morningstar for breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. It requested compensatory damages of $64.3 million.
A firm with 25 employees and now part of NextCapital Group Inc., Business Logic claimed that Morningstar and Ibbotson Associates Inc., a Morningstar company, misappropriated Business Logic’s trade secrets over the course of two and a half years, starting in 2007.
Morningstar spokeswoman Margaret Kirch Cohen confirmed in an e-mail that the two companies had reached an agreement and that there will be no trial.
“Morningstar and Business Logic have agreed to a preliminary settlement,” NextCapital general counsel and chief operating officer Bill Patterson said in a statement.