Expert

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.

Integrated programming, delay and IT expert services for an adjudication arising on a US$105m data centre in a European city to support 22MW of critical IT load. The 11,000m2 facility includes 5,200m2 of Tier III technical data centre space split into six self-contained data halls, each with dedicated power and cooling systems. Determined methodology for analysing causes of critical delay, appropriate baseline programme for measuring critical delay, and determined critical path for each project phase.

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’).