US Supreme Court won’t review reversed $1.6 billion award in BMC-IBM copyright row
( March 10, 2025, 19:06 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: BMC Software has failed to persuade the US Supreme Court to revive its case against IBM. The parties were once privy to a master license agreement whereby IBM licensed BMC’s copyrighted software program with stipulations BMC said IBM failed to abide by. Following a bench trial, US District Judge Gray H. Miller in 2021 said BMC was owed $1.6 billion on its breach of contract claim but the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the award, deeming the contractual provision at issue an unenforceable restraint on trade. In seeking review, BMC presented the following question: “Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in overriding a license agreement’s plain language and holding that a contractual provision regarding the use of copyrighted software would be unreasonable and an unlawful restraint on trade if it could limit the commercial options available to third parties?” IBM initially waived a response but in February, at the court's request, filed an opposition brief which urged a denial of writ of certiorari, characterizing the case as “a factbound contract dispute governed by New York law" and thus beyond the court’s reach.See attached document....
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