header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
18 March 2010 / Andrew Dodd , Louisa Albertini
Issue: 7409 / Categories: Features , Commercial
printer mail-detail

False alarm?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

BSkyB ruling rings alarm bells for IT suppliers. Andrew Dodd & Louisa Albertini explain why

In a landmark court ruling on 26 January 2010, a judge has ruled in favour of BSkyB in its bitterly contested £710m legal battle with EDS. Mr Justice Ramsey found that EDS had fraudulently misrepresented to BSkyB the timescales in which it could deliver a new customer relationship management (CRM) system for BSkyB.

The judgment will cause reverberations in the IT industry. In establishing fraudulent misrepresentation, BSkyB blew a hole through the £30m liability cap in its contract with EDS. Its precise damages figure will be assessed by the court in a separate hearing. Preliminary indications, however, are that it will comfortably exceed £200m.

Problems from the start

EDS successfully tendered in 2000 for the design and implementation of a new CRM system for BSkyB. The £46m project was quickly beset by difficulties. After successive renegotiations in 2001 and 2002, there was an acrimonious parting of ways in 2002. BSkyB paused for breath and consulted its lawyers.

In

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Partner and Manchester office lead appointed head of family

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

DWF insurance services director appointed to Civil Justice Council

R3—Jodie Wildridge

R3—Jodie Wildridge

Kings Chambers barrister appointed chair of R3 Yorkshire

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll