Cognizant files lawsuit against Infosys in US court, claiming trade secrets were stolen to develop competing healthcare software

Cognizant TriZetto Software Group, a subsidiary of leading IT giant Cognizant Solutions, has filed a lawsuit against Infosys in a Texas court, accusing it of misappropriating trade secrets and stealing confidential information to develop competing software and services.

Trizetto, acquired by Cognizant in 2014, is a healthcare-focused company that offers its clients (primarily hospitals, physicians and health insurance companies) a suite of software products as well as consulting, IT and business process services.

Trizetto accused Infosys of gaining access to its closely guarded, proprietary software and related technical documentation under the guise of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) while the two companies were working together on projects for Infosys clients.

“Infosys misused its access to TriZetto’s confidential and trade secret information and exceeded the scope of permitted access under the NDA, and then engaged in an unlawful pattern of misusing and misappropriating TriZetto’s confidential information and trading in the trade secret information for improper purposes,” the lawsuit noted.

In its lawsuit, TriZetto accused Infosys of misusing TriZetto’s proprietary Facets technology to create “test cases for Facets” and then repackaging the TriZetto data into the Infosys product.

Facet solutions are used by companies that pay for medical services and prescription drug benefits on behalf of health insurers, larger employers and healthcare providers.

Cognizant also found that Infosys broke the law by creating software to extract data from QNXT, including confidential TriZetto information and trade secrets.

“Infosys designed the QNXT adapter to load data from QNXT into a database it created using information obtained from examining TriZetto’s proprietary software, interfaces, data model, and other confidential information and trade secrets,” the lawsuit says.

Infosys denied the allegations in a statement and said it would defend itself in court.