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Broadcom’s virtualization software subsidiary, VMware, has recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Delaware against the American division of German industrial giant Siemens, accusing the company of downloading and distributing multiple VMware products without purchasing the appropriate licenses, according to The Register, which first spotted the complaint.
According to VMware, the two companies entered into a Master Software License and Services Agreement on November 28, 2012. In September 2024, Siemens submitted a purchase order to VMware for maintenance and support services, seeking to renew its annual support agreement.
The purchase order covered a broad array of VMware software products; however, VMware claims it could not find any corresponding license records verifying that Siemens had legally purchased these products. If interpreted literally, this suggests that Siemens was utilizing VMware software without proper licensing, while simultaneously requesting official support services—a move that could be construed as inadvertently admitting to non-compliance.
In its complaint, VMware states that Siemens attempted to exercise a renewal option for certain support services after the expiration of its Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) in September 2024. Siemens allegedly revealed that it had downloaded, copied, distributed, and deployed thousands of instances of VMware software for which it had never acquired licenses.
Siemens, however, vehemently denies the allegations, asserting that the support service inventory provided was accurate and that it had requested support from VMware in good faith. Despite the dispute, VMware ultimately agreed to deliver the requested support services in order to avoid operational disruptions for Siemens and the risk of legal retaliation from the company.
Following the provision of services, VMware initiated legal action, accusing Siemens of intellectual property infringement. The company also alleges that Siemens resisted audit requests—specifically, refusing to run VMware’s scripts designed to determine the extent of VMware software usage within Siemens’ systems.
VMware asserts that Siemens’ self-reported inventory should accurately reflect its usage of VMware products and that the company would logically ensure this accuracy to avoid legal consequences. VMware’s support fees are calculated based on the number of deployed instances and corresponding licenses, making accurate reporting critical.
At present, it remains unclear whether this dispute stems from licensing violations on Siemens’ part or from contractual changes introduced after Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. So far, neither company has issued a public statement addressing the matter.
