Media & Resources
Alimirzoev & Trofimov Defended the Client in a License Dispute
DATE: February 26, 2021 | AUTHOR: AT
Alimirzoev & Trofimov won in three instances a dispute between a major European mail services software developer and its Russian client. A&T lawyers represented the European company in a dispute over a software license.
The plaintiff had entered into a licensing agreement with the software developer to use the software throughout the term of its exclusive right. The plaintiff’s access to the software was secured through the provision of a license key, which was valid for one year.
But in the process of use, the company-buyer decided that it didn’t need the software and started looking for far-fetched reasons to terminate the license agreement and return the money. The reason was the wording of the contract providing for a “perpetual license” for the software. The Russian company filed a lawsuit, demanding the termination of the license agreement and recovery of the contract price, contractual penalty and court costs – a total of about 140,000 euros. The plaintiff insisted that it had no guaranteed ability to use the software in perpetuity because it did not have a key with an unlimited validity period.
A&T’s lawyers were able to prove in three instances that all obligations under the licensing agreement had been met. The wording “perpetual license” implies granting a license for the entire term of the exclusive right. The Russian company tried to use the substitution of notions, existing in practice: some IT-specialists and managers call a license as a key for logging into the system. The plaintiff claimed that the developer failed to fulfill its obligations under the contract, because it did not provide him with a “perpetual license” for the software, referring to the license key.