IBM’s Legal Team Gets $41.5M in Fees, Costs in BMC Case

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen has decided the lawyers who represented International Business Machines in a contentious dispute with Houston-based software company BMC are entitled to about $29.1 million in fees and $12.4 million in litigation costs for work done on the case. 

IBM, which was awarded a total of $41.5 million, had asked the court to award $46.5 million in fees and $12.7 million in costs, which totals about $59.2 million. The case that pitted BMC against IBM was closely watched by many at trial and on appeal, and garnered significant amicus attention, too. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller, who presided over a bench trial, determined in May 2022 that IBM committed fraud when it removed BMC’s mainframe software products from their largest mutual client, AT&T, during an outsourcing project several years ago.