BSkyB wins court case against EDS

IT services firm liable to pay at least £200m in costs and damages

BSkyB claims to have spent £170m to replace its failed CRM system

The most expensive court case in the history of the IT industry ended yesterday with BSkyB winning its five-year battle against EDS.

The broadcaster was suing EDS over its alleged failure to provide a customer relationship management (CRM) system for the media giant's call centres in Scotland.

In 2000, the IT services firm won the contract to design, build and implement the system, which was then terminated in 2002 owing to what was described by BSkyB as a "deliberate, cynical and dishonest" pitch.

When the case began in 2004, EDS labelled the claimed damages for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and deceit, "absurd and extravagant”.

BSkyB claims to have spent around £170m replacing the CRM platform and anticipates receiving at least £200m from the IT services firm.

EDS – now called HP Enterprise Services following its acquisition by HP – is now seeking to appeal on the judgment.

The IT supplier officially recognised that the relationship between the two businesses was difficult, but a source told Computing that the difficulties arose because BSkyB kept changing its requirements.

The source added that with over 60 people involved in the contract – including various other external partners – the decision to render the contract fraudulent cannot be justified.

HP is treating the case as a “legacy issue”, which was inherited when it acquired EDS in 2008.

“We are pleased the court dismissed the majority of the allegations made. While we accept that the contract was problematic, HP strongly maintains EDS did nothing to deceive BSkyB,” the company said in a statement.

It is estimated that some £700m has been spent over the course of the 15-month court battle.