By Jonathan Stempel and Blake Brittain
(Reuters) -A federal appeals courtroom on Tuesday overturned a judgment requiring IBM (NYSE:) to pay rival BMC Software program $1.6 billion, after a choose discovered IBM improperly changed BMC’s mainframe software program at AT&T (NYSE:) with its personal.
The fifth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals in New Orleans mentioned a decrease courtroom choose’s willpower regarding legal responsibility was in error. Writing for a three-judge panel, U.S. Circuit Choose Edith Jones mentioned AT&T, one among BMC’s greatest purchasers, had switched to IBM software program “independently” and that BMC had “misplaced out to IBM honest and sq..”
A BMC spokesperson declined to remark. An IBM spokesperson mentioned in a press release that the corporate “acted in good religion in each facet of this engagement” and is “grateful the courtroom agrees.”
Representatives for AT&T, which isn’t a celebration to the case, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Houston-based BMC develops and licenses proprietary mainframe software program merchandise. Underneath an settlement, IBM can keep and function mainframes operating BMC software program with a “non-displacement” provision that limits IBM from switching BMC purchasers’ software program to IBM’s, the ruling mentioned.
AT&T employed IBM to handle its mainframe operations. BMC’s lawsuit in Houston federal courtroom accused IBM of breaching their contract when AT&T deserted its software program for IBM’s.
Tuesday’s ruling overturned U.S. District Choose Grey Miller’s 2022 determination that IBM owed BMC $1.6 billion in damages for breaking their settlement. Miller mentioned IBM had already secretly agreed to exchange BMC’s software program at AT&T when it negotiated the contract in 2015.
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