Cognizant sues Infosys for stealing trade secrets

Cognizant TriZetto Software Group Inc. has filed a case against Infosys Limited in a US court over alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and unfair competition.

Cognizant in its allegation filed with a Texas court said the Bengaluru-headquartered IT company unlawfully extracted data from Cognizant databases and used it to build and market competing software.

Infosys denied the allegations in a statement and said it would defend itself in court."Infosys is aware of the lawsuit. We deny all allegations and will defend our position in court," said a company spokesperson.

Cognizant's software, developed by its TriZetto unit, includes the Facets and QNXT platforms, widely used by healthcare insurance companies to streamline administrative processes.

According to the lawsuit, Infosys allegedly misused TriZetto's software to create a competing product called ‘Test Cases for Facets,’ repurposing TriZetto's data. Furthermore, the complaint accuses Infosys of developing software to extract data from QNXT, containing confidential information and trade secrets.

Cognizant is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction to prevent Infosys from further exploiting its proprietary information.This legal action follows a period of heightened tension between the two companies. A week earlier, Cognizant appointed Rajesh Warrier, a former Infosys executive, as its new CMD.

Current Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar also has deep roots in Infosys. Adding to the rivalry, Infosys previously accused Cognizant of unfairly poaching employees in a dispute that arose eight months ago.

Cognizant has also been entangled in legal proceedings with another Indian IT firm, Wipro, over the hiring of Jatin Dalal.