VMware is suing the US arm of commercial big AG Siemens. The Broadcom firm claims that Siemens outed itself by revealing to VMware that it downloaded and distributed a number of copies of VMware merchandise with out shopping for a license.

VMware filed the lawsuit (PDF) on March 21 within the US District Court docket for the District of Delaware, as noticed by The Register.

Within the criticism, VMware says that it has had a Grasp Software program License and Service Settlement with Siemens since November 28, 2012. The virtualization firm claims that in September, Siemens despatched VMware a purchase order order for upkeep and help providers. Siemens was reportedly trying to train a beforehand agreed-upon choice for a one-year renewal of help providers. Nonetheless, the checklist of VMware expertise that Siemens was searching for help for “included a lot of merchandise for which [VMware] had no document of Siemens AG buying a license,” the criticism says.

The lawsuit additionally reads: “Within the context of trying to train the choice… to buy a one-year renewal of Assist Providers for sure eligible licensed merchandise for the 12 months following the expiration of the ELA in September 2024, Siemens AG revealed that it had downloaded, copied, distributed, and deployed hundreds of copies of VMware merchandise for which it had by no means bought a license.”