IBM Sued Over Software Licenses

Casino giant Wynn Las Vegas has filed a lawsuit against IBM, claiming the tech vendor is overcharging it for software used to track maintenance activities and supplies at its Sin City properties.

Wynn claims IBM is wrongly insisting it pay for full licenses for its Maximo software, even for employees who are only casual users of the product. Wynn said IBM is pressing it for about $9.7 million in additional licensing fees to which, the casino operator claims, it's not entitled.

"According to IBM's apparently revised understanding of Wynn's license, every Wynn employee who had been using Maximo—including every housekeeper who merely used the software to report and follow up on guest maintenance requests—was required to have his or her own multi-thousand dollar software license," Wynn said in papers filed last week in federal court in Nevada.

Wynn operates the Wynn and Encore hotels on the Las Vegas strip. All told, it claims IBM is insisting it purchase about 2,000 additional Maximo licenses, ranging in price from about $2,300 to $4,600 each.

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