Expert Witness – Industry Customs & Practices

We are often asked to provide opinions regarding “customs and practices” in the software industry, particularly for SaaS companies, telecommunications companies, and e-commerce companies involved in disputes. Dr. Kursh’s opinions regarding industry customs and practices have been admitted in several courts.

Our work provides context related to software development, sales and distribution, licensing, project management, trade practices, compensation, partner relationships, and other management issues.

We draw on our expertise, particularly our extensive, on-the-ground experience in management consulting and work in senior-level management. We also draw on the software industry, including SaaS, telecommunications, and e-commerce, along with independent, third-party sources and reliable and replicable methodologies in this work.

Representative Engagements

• We were asked by counsel for the plaintiff to assess the actions by one of the world’s largest web hosting companies related to a partnership agreement with a website security software company. Our work focused on the parties marketing, sales, and payment practices relative to SaaS customs and practices. Our analysis set context and provided information for the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the defendant, a publicly-traded web-hosting company in an antitrust matter related to DNS configurations and related services. Our work focused on the architecture and functionality of the DNS and related security issues. Our analysis set context and provided information for the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the plaintiff, one of the world’s largest providers of software to the healthcare industry. Our work focused on analyzing how the defendant leveraged trade secrets and other information misappropriated from the plaintiff to gain credibility and additional sales. Our analysis set context and provided business and industry-relevant context regarding enterprise software sales and marketing practices to the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the defendant, a former CEO of a software company, to provide opinions regarding industry customs and practices in the sales, implementation, and support of the company’s enterprise software used for SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS, in response to allegations from the SEC. Our analysis set context and provided information for the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the defendant in a dispute regarding management practices, specifically, marketing/sales and compensation, by an Asian-based, technology company. Our analysis included consideration of industry customs and practices to set context and provide information for the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the defendant, one of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment companies, in a patent and contract dispute related to the distribution and marketing of mobile devices. Our work included analysis of the ecosystem for mobile applications and broader distribution issues, including sales and marketing to assist the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the plaintiff, an investor and company founder of a software and e-commerce company focused on financial trading services and exchanges, in a contract dispute. Our work analyzed the similarity of two software products and businesses relative to business metrics and industry practices to set context and assist the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for the plaintiff, a Latin American-based distributor of enterprise software, regarding industry customs and practices in software industry partnerships involving marketing and distribution to set context and assist the trier of fact.
• We were retained in a bankruptcy matter of a major retailer to analyze software development processes, licenses, and other issues to set context and assist the trier of fact.
• We were retained by counsel for one of the nation’s largest university systems in a matter related to customs and practices with open source software and software development to set context and assist the trier of fact.
• We were retained by a publicly-traded company to assess its development and use of AI and LLM.