1400 instances without a license? VMware files suit against Siemens
Siemens is alleged to have used around 1,400 instances of VMware software in the USA without a valid license. The Broadcom subsidiary is now going to court.
(Image: Shutterstock/Igor Golovniov)
Virtualization specialist VMware has filed a lawsuit against the US division and subsidiaries of Siemens with the District Court in Delaware. In the complaint, VMware accuses the industrial group of using software without valid licenses. In total, over 1400 instances were operated for which no contract existed.
The background to the dispute is a multi-year license agreement between Siemens and VMware, which ended in September 2024 but gave Siemens the option of one more year of support. Siemens exercised this option last September. According to VMware, however, the industrial group demanded maintenance and support for a list of VMware instances that significantly exceeded the number of licenses originally purchased by Siemens. In its statement of claim, VMware cites the discrepancy in the vRealize Suite Advance with around 1000 unlicensed instances as the largest item. A total of 15 applications were affected.
Siemens allegedly refused to review
VMware confronted Siemens with the discrepancy, but the industrial group maintained that its figures were correct and threatened to sue if VMware refused to extend support for the listed instances. Siemens has refused to allow VMware scripts or an independent auditor to check how much VMware software is running on Siemens systems.
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VMware states that it initially agreed to further support at short notice, subject to reservations, so as not to impair Siemens' ongoing operations. Siemens then submitted a revised list of VMware usage figures in October 2024, which deviated less significantly from the software company's figures.
However, it was unclear to VMware why Siemens had initially insisted on the accuracy of its original figures and then submitted new figures. This is why the company, which has been part of Broadcom for two years, decided to take legal action. In response to media inquiries, Siemens stated that it would not comment on ongoing legal disputes. The Register first reported the case.
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