IBM rises even as judge orders company to pay $1.6B to BMC Software
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IBM (NYSE:IBM) shares rose on Tuesday even as a federal judge ordered the IT services giant to pay $1.6 billion to BMC Software for switching out its own software despite helping a mutual client.
Bloomberg, which first reported the news, pointed out that U.S. District Judge Gray Miller rejected the claims of the Arvind Krishna-led IBM (IBM), which said that the mutual client, AT&T (T), changed the software products on its own, adding that IBM's role "smacked of intentional wrongdoing."
IBM (IBM) shares were fractionally higher to $139.31 in mid-day trading on Tuesday.
Armonk, New York-based IBM (IBM) said it would appeal Miller's decision, who made the judgement after the no-jury trial lasted for seven days.
âThis verdict is entirely unsupported by fact and law, and IBM intends to pursue complete reversal on appeal,â IBM said in a statement obtained by Bloomberg.
âIBM acted in good faith in every respect in this engagement. The decision to remove BMC Software technology from its mainframes rested solely with AT&T, as was recognized by the court and confirmed in testimony from AT&T representatives admitted at trial.â
BMC initially sued IBM (IBM) in 2017 that the move breached the agreement between the two software companies.
Earlier this month, IBM (IBM) signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AMZN) to offer a broad array of its software catalog as Software-as-a-Service on AWS.