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ARTICLE · 27 OCTOBER 2023

What Happens When Your Software Development Contract Turns Sour?

Gowling WLG
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The recently reported High Court case Topalsson GmbH v Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd [2023] EWHC 1765 (TCC) delivers an interesting legal overview of the breakdown in a software development contractual relationship.

United KingdomCorporate/Commercial Law
Helen Davenport
Helen Davenport
Louise Macdonald
Louise Macdonald
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The recently reported High Court case Topalsson GmbH v Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd [2023] EWHC 1765 (TCC) delivers an interesting legal overview of the breakdown in a software development contractual relationship.

In this update, we summarise the case and provide some points to note in relation to entering into and terminating contracts, while also considering what this means from a contract interpretation perspective.

What happened?

Under a services agreement, Topalsson agreed to develop and supply digital visualisation software to Rolls-Royce to replace what was in existence already. A tender process had preceded and the plan was for the software to be operating in time for the launch of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost model in spring 2020. The new software would allow prospective customers of Rolls-Royce to view envisaged car configurations from 3D models.

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