Hewlett Packard (HP) was claiming victory in its long-running battle with Mike Lynch after a judge in London said the US group had “substantially won” its civil action against the Autonomy founder.
Hewlett Packard sued the UK entrepreneur two years ago claiming that with Autonomy's then finance director, Sushovan Hussain, Lynch had "artificially inflated reported revenues, revenue growth and gross margins" prior to the US group buying it for US$11bn in 2011.
Justice Hildyard said the issue of damages would be settled at a later date, with the full ruling also yet to be published after only being circulated to the parties involved.
It is another blow to Lynch, who earlier this week was told he faced extradition to the US after another legal ruling.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has until midnight to decide whether to uphold the court ruling on Lynch’s extradition and was believed to be waiting for today's outcome of this civil case before making a decision.
Lynch, 56, is wanted in the US to stand trial on 17 counts of fraud over the HP sale in both federal and state courts.
Autonomy was seen as a rare example of the UK developing a global tech giant when it was acquired by HP, but the deal quickly turned sour with HP eventually writing off US$8.8bn of the purchase price.
Lynch has consistently denied the allegation made by HP, saying it was trying to make him "a scapegoat for their failures".
Kelwin Nicholls of law firm Clifford Chance, who is acting for Lynch, said: “Today’s outcome is disappointing and Dr Lynch intends to appeal.
"We will study the full judgment over the coming weeks. We note the judge’s concerns over the reliability of some of HP’s witnesses. We also note the judge’s expectation that any loss suffered by HP will be substantially less than the US$5billion claimed.”
Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy’s former CFO, was jailed for five years in 2018 for crimes related to the Autonomy sale.