In a decision that will likely shake up the service provider community, and may embolden aggrieved customers, particularly those in the UK, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) won a 200 million pound verdict against EDS (now a unit of HP) in a litigation that found that EDS was deceitful in pursuing the contract.

What is particularly interesting is that the agreement had a 30 million pound limitation of liability. Deceit, however, was apparently an exception to the contract (most U.S.-based contracts contain "willful misconduct" exceptions, too).

Morrison & Foerster's London Partner, Alan Owens suggested that sales organization will begin to drastically change their tactics in response to this verdict - although I wonder whether that change will be a more transparent bidding process or, alternatively, bolstered contractual protections.