LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - IBM ( IBM ) on Monday won a

London lawsuit against U.S. tech entrepreneur and philanthropist

John Moores' company LzLabs, which the IT giant accused of

stealing trade secrets.

IBM ( IBM ) sued Switzerland-based LzLabs, two English subsidiaries

and their ultimate owner Moores, who previously owned Major

League Baseball's San Diego Padres team and founded information

technology company BMC Software in 1980, at the High Court.

The company alleged LzLabs' UK subsidiary Winsopia purchased

an IBM ( IBM ) mainframe computer and agreed a licence with IBM ( IBM ) in 2013,

before using the access to reverse-engineer IBM's ( IBM ) mainframe

software.

LzLabs and Moores fought the lawsuit, arguing LzLabs

developed its own software after nearly a decade of work and

there was no unlawful use of IBM's ( IBM ) licensed software.

But the High Court largely ruled in IBM's ( IBM ) favour, with Judge

Finola O'Farrell saying in a written ruling that Winsopia

breached the terms of its IBM ( IBM ) software licence and that "LzLabs

and Mr Moores unlawfully procured (those) breaches."

Monday's ruling followed a trial last year to determine

whether the defendants were liable to IBM ( IBM ), with a further

hearing to determine any damages to take place in due course.

IBM's ( IBM ) case against another British subsidiary, LzLabs

Limited, and LzLabs' current and former CEO was rejected.

IBM ( IBM ) and LzLabs did not immediately respond to a request for

comment. Moores could not immediately be reached for comment.