'Caught red-handed': Cognizant says Infosys stole its trade secrets

In August 2024, Cognizant subsidiary TriZetto (AXPAST.UL) sued Infosys, accusing the Indian tech major of stealing trade secrets related to its healthcare insurance software.

In response, Infosys filed a countersuit against Cognizant, accusing it of anti-competitive practices.

Infosys' lawsuit flagged clauses in Cognizant contracts that stop clients from awarding IT services work to competitors and refusing them training on its software.

The Bengaluru-based company also said Cognizant indulged in targeted recruitment of key senior executives, including appointing S Ravi Kumar as its CEO in 2023, delaying its ability to develop a competing software product called Infosys Helix.

On February 7, Cognizant replied to these charges in a court filing in Dallas, Texas, where it said the Indian company was 'caught red-handed' stealing its trade secrets, as per a Mint report.

In the 22-page filing, the US firm stated, “Infosys was caught red-handed misappropriating TriZetto trade secrets that Infosys originally had access to through non-disclosure and access agreements (NDAAs)."

It also claimed the Bengaluru-based company refused an audit of its usage of TriZetto information.

As per the publication, Cognizant's reply read, “When confronted, Infosys obfuscated to the maximum extent possible, asking TriZetto to simply trust, based on nothing, that there had been no wrongdoing. When TriZetto refused to take Infosys at its word and demanded an audit of Infosys’s use of TriZetto’s information, as explicitly permitted under the NDAAs for any reason (much less rampant trade secret misappropriation), Infosys refused to comply."

“For the foregoing reasons, TriZetto respectfully requests that the Court deny Infosys’s motion in its entirety, and order that Infosys produce all documents it is withholding on the basis that TriZetto has not yet sufficiently identified its trade secrets," Cognizant further added.

“Infosys now complains that TriZetto’s trade secret identification is too 'broad,' but Infosys cannot have it both ways—demanding that TriZetto provide further specificity regarding what Infosys misappropriated, while at the same time unlawfully concealing the information TriZetto would need to provide such additional specificity," the lawsuit read.

With Reuters inputs