Consumer Goods & Services

Appointed to provide expert determination for an automotive distributor based in the Middle East and its South African SAP implementation partner. Completion of a US$100m SAP platform solution required continuous progress monitoring and reporting on delays due to resourcing and scope changes. Reports identified causes and apportioned responsibility which was used to determine how much each party would contribute to associated costs of delay. For changes, reports identified whether individual aspects of functionality were in the original scope of work.

Instructed in the High Court case AFD Software v DCML Ltd to investigate a licensing dispute involving software enabling access to the Royal Mail’s postcode database for use in the automotive industry. Investigations focused on software copyright infringement via the replication of proprietary source code in memory when using the software, the basis upon which a £14.1m claim was calculated, and analysis of technical validity of the argument.

Instructed to produce expert report to assess the fitness for purpose of a household appliance manufactured by a multinational company. Investigation concentrated on whether the semi-conductor device was faulty, whether it was being used outside its specification, and whether the designers and suppliers were entitled to reasonably rely upon the position that selected components should be able to fail in a safe manner, even if the design of the appliance was sub-optimal.

Instructed to provide IT and project delivery expert witness services in the case of David MacBrayne Ltd v Atos IT Services (UK) Ltd, held before the Outer House of the Scottish Court of Session, concerning failed implementation of a new ferry ticketing system for a fleet of 33 vessels serving 53 ports throughout Scotland’s Hebridean and Clyde islands. Following contract review, considered primary causes of delay and failure and key dispute issues, including delivery methodology (‘Agile’ vs. ‘Waterfall’).