Abstract
The High Court recently upheld a claim by the Department of Corrections (the Department) against Fujitsu New Zealand Ltd (Fujitsu) for breach of contractual warranties in the amount of close to $4 million: R (in right of New Zealand acting by and through the Chief Executive of the Dept of Corrections) v Fujitsu New Zealand Ltd [2023] NZHC 3598. Fujitsu had promised to provide staff rostering software to the Department with “out of the box” functionality. It turned out that the software, which was supplied by Dassault Systèmes Australia Pty Ltd (Dassault), required expensive customisation to meet the Department’s requirements. This was contrary to Fujitsu’s representations to the Department, and also contrary to Dassault’s representations to Fujitsu.