BSkyB wins court battle against EDS

BSkyB has won its long court battle against EDS this week after a judge agreed the broadcasting company had been deceived.

Back in 2000, Sky hired EDS to provide the technology for its customer support centres but terminated the contract after two years claiming it had been mislead about the time the project would take and the cost involved.

Legal action was initially launched in 2004 but it took nearly six years before the judgement was passed by Justice Ramsey at the Royal Courts of Justice that EDS was guilty of misleading BSkyB to secure the contract.

However, Ramsey rejected allegations around the bidding process and misleading on costs, claiming EDS was not responsible for this.

A statement on Sky’s website shows the company expects to be awarded £200 million for costs and damages, although this has yet to be confirmed by the courts.

Jeremy Drew, head of technology, IP and outsourcing at City law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, said in a statement: “This is a major decision that’s going to have a huge impact across a broad range of businesses.”

“Any service company that bids for customers will have to be much more careful about avoiding loose sales talk and exaggerating its past experience and capabilities, otherwise it could find itself on the receiving end of a similar claim.”

EDS was bought by HP in 2008 and was rebranded as HP Enterprise Services during September of last year.

HP confirmed to Channel Pro sister title, IT PRO, that an appeal against the ruling would be launched.

"We are pleased the Court dismissed the majority of the allegations made," a spokesperson from HP said in a statement.

"While we accept that the contract was problematic, HP strongly maintains EDS did nothing to deceive BSkyB."