Wynn Las Vegas files lawsuit against IBM

Wynn Las Vegas sued IBM in federal court on Wednesday, saying its two Las Vegas resorts have already paid the technology company for software.

IBM has made "unconscionable demands" that the resort company owes nearly $9.7 million for prior and future use of Maximo, an asset management business software.

According to the lawsuit, Wynn said IBM alleges the use of the software at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore exceeds its license even though the technology company and its subsidiary, MRO Software, downloaded, implemented and configured the software at the two resorts

The software logs and tracks work orders, equipment maintenance needs and inventory of materials needed for maintenance, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Wynn purchased the software for $90,000 in late 2004. The resort paid $12,000 for renewal fees in 2005 and 2006. It paid $100,000 to upgrade the software in late 2007.

In 2008, Wynn bought more Maximo licenses to open Encore, paying IBM "tens of thousands of dollars" for licensing and implementation.

While the Wynn continued to pay licensing fees during the next two years, IBM said earlier this year an audit of the software use showed that Wynn should have purchased nearly 2,000 licenses additional licenses from IBM costing between $2,310 and $4,600 each.

Problems with the software developed soon after its February 2005 installation, including frequent Maximo system failures, the lawsuit said.

"Maximo software failed many times more than other business enterprise software used by Wynn," the lawsuit said.

IBM has not responded to a request for comment.

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com
or 702-477-3893.