Infosys asked to produce code, documents in Australian dispute

BENGALURU: Software services giant Infosys has been asked by an Australian court to share a copy of the source code for a banking solution user interface it had built for both Qudos Bank and Australian Military Bank (AMB), within seven days.

The decision by the Federal Court of Australia was to resolve a dispute where Qudos has accused the Indian company of copying its intellectual property to help AMB.

The court also asked Infosys on Monday to produce documents to support its claim that it had not breached the terms of its agreement with Qudos Bank.

ET has reviewed a copy of the order.

Qudos Mutual Ltd, which trades as Qudos Bank, and Infosys entered into a Master Banking Services Agreement in March 2015, where Infosys was to provide a range of services to revamp Qudos’ digital banking system.

Qudos planned to build a fully integrated banking platform, including core banking, customer relationship management, online banking, mobile application and other systems as part of the agreement.

However, in October 2018, Infosys was terminated from the project, with Qudos alleging that the Bengaluru-headquartered software major had used the source code meant for Qudos to build a solution for AMB.

The Court said in its order that Infosys’ submissions in response to the Australian bank’s claims of “breach of agreement” and “infringement” of copyright are not satisfactory and that the IT services provider would be required to provide more documents.

“Infosys adheres to well-established processes in delivering services and has successfully designed and deployed many business critical banking solutions globally including Australia. The Company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and will vigorously defend itself in any litigation,” Infosys said in an email to ET.

“The Company will not disclose any information pertaining to the Qudos contract in adherence to our confidentially obligations. Infosys will comply with the orders of the court,” the firm wrote.

Qudos did not respond to emails seeking comment till press time. According to the Court order, Infosys said it had developed a custom-made product for AMB using its Finacle banking product and relied on “publicly available information, and Qudos solution became publicly available on the Qudos website.”

Both Qudos Bank and Infosys made attempts last year to resolve the disputes, but failed to reach a conclusion, the order said.