Cognizant sues software rival Infosys over trade secrets

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Software provider Cognizant TriZetto (AXPAST.UL) sued Indian tech company Infosys (INFY.NS) in Texas federal court on Friday, accusing Infosys of stealing trade secrets related to its healthcare insurance software.

Cognizant said in the lawsuit that Infosys unlawfully extracted data from its 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. Spokespeople for Cognizant did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

Teaneck, New Jersey-based Cognizant's software includes TriZetto's Facets and QNXT, used by healthcare insurance companies to automate administrative tasks.

According to the complaint, Infosys misused TriZetto's software to create "Test Cases for Facets," which improperly repackaged TriZetto's data into an Infosys product.

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

Cognizant earned more than $19.3 billion in revenue last year while Infosys earned more than $18.5 billion, according to company reports.

Cognizant asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order for Infosys to stop misusing its trade secrets.

Cognizant won $854 million from Atos' (ATOS.PA) Syntel in a separate dispute over Facets trade secrets in 2020. The award was later cut and then overturned on appeal last year, though the court found that Syntel was still liable for an amount of damages to be determined.

The case is Cognizant TriZetto Software Group Inc v. Infosys Ltd, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, No. 3:24-cv-02158.