Cognizant seeks list of Infosys employees in trade secrets case
Cognizant Technology Solutions has raised fresh demand for Infosys to identify employees who allegedly accessed confidential information about its healthcare software platform TriZetto and worked with its clients as part of an ongoing trade secrets lawsuit in the US.
The US-headquartered alleged that these individuals misused its product information to develop competing tools for Infosys’ healthcare software Helix, according to a newly filed joint supplemental court report.
Infosys called the demand “vague” and “wildly burdensome” as it covers over 8,000 individuals who worked on client accounts and over 700 involved in developing Helix.
The Bengaluru-headquartered firm has for now agreed to conduct additional investigation on a list of individuals identified in its system as having worked on a project for a client who has Facets or QNXT – both healthcare administration software products developed by TriZetto – over the past nine years, according to the 148-page court document filed on June 26 with revisions made a day later.
ET has reviewed the document.
While Infosys said it will submit responses before a US district court by July 25, Cognizant has requested a compliance date for its amended response to be three weeks from the filing of the document (on June 26) as was previously given to it.
"Cognizant is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in all business operations and will take decisive action to address any allegations that compromise competitive standing. Cognizant encourages competition, but competitors cannot use Cognizant's IP to unfairly compete, as Infosys has done. Cognizant's software products are widely used in the marketplace for being best-in-class and most preferred among customers," Cognizant said in a statement.
Infosys did not respond to a request for comments until press time Monday.
The ten-month-old court battle, which began in August 2024, centres around Cognizant’s allegations that Infosys stole trade secrets related to TriZetto Software Group.
In January, Infosys, India’s second largest IT major, filed an antitrust case against Cognizant, accusing it of leveraging monopoly power in the healthcare software market. Infosys named Cognizant’s senior officials including chief executive officer Ravi Kumar S, who was a president at Infosys until October 2022.
In May, a US district court had asked both companies to attempt resolving the case through an informal agreement.
However, during a joint videoconference on June 25, both the parties’ counsels hit a dead-end as they discussed the purported burden of interviewing individuals who worked on the client accounts identified in the complaint and then worked on Infosys Helix within 12 months.
“Infosys will generate and produce a report from its personnel allocation system that lists the individuals identified in its system as having worked on a project for a Facets or QNXT customer since 2016, to the extent available,” its counsel said in the joint statement. “Infosys cannot guarantee that the report reflects personnel allocation with 100% accuracy. Further, that an individual worked on a project for a client with Facets or QNXT does not necessarily indicate the individual performed services related to Facets or QNXT.”
TriZetto, which Cognizant acquired in a $2.7-billion deal in 2014, argued that it worked with Infosys to “identify a smaller set of employees that it would need to identify and explain what TriZetto confidential information that smaller set of employees had access to. But Infosys backtracked at the last minute after it agreed in principle on an approach…and raised new and unsubstantiated burden-based objections.”
It further pressed the court to order Infosys to provide information it had originally agreed to provide regarding individuals who worked on developing the test cases and adaptors, identify those who worked on three client accounts that also worked on TriZetto’s software and those who worked on both Customer B and Infosys’ competing Helix product.
Criticizing TriZetto’s objections as “lacking merit,” Infosys claimed that the former “would not agree to any approach that did not require questioning thousands of employees.”
Cognizant, which has its 70% workforce in India, and Infosys directly compete in the $280-billion-plus software services industry. Cognizant reported a revenue of $19.74 billion for the year ended December 2024 while Infosys posted $19.28-billion revenue for the year ended March 2025.
The US-headquartered alleged that these individuals misused its product information to develop competing tools for Infosys’ healthcare software Helix, according to a newly filed joint supplemental court report.
Infosys called the demand “vague” and “wildly burdensome” as it covers over 8,000 individuals who worked on client accounts and over 700 involved in developing Helix.
The Bengaluru-headquartered firm has for now agreed to conduct additional investigation on a list of individuals identified in its system as having worked on a project for a client who has Facets or QNXT – both healthcare administration software products developed by TriZetto – over the past nine years, according to the 148-page court document filed on June 26 with revisions made a day later.
ET has reviewed the document.
While Infosys said it will submit responses before a US district court by July 25, Cognizant has requested a compliance date for its amended response to be three weeks from the filing of the document (on June 26) as was previously given to it.
"Cognizant is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity in all business operations and will take decisive action to address any allegations that compromise competitive standing. Cognizant encourages competition, but competitors cannot use Cognizant's IP to unfairly compete, as Infosys has done. Cognizant's software products are widely used in the marketplace for being best-in-class and most preferred among customers," Cognizant said in a statement.
Infosys did not respond to a request for comments until press time Monday.
The ten-month-old court battle, which began in August 2024, centres around Cognizant’s allegations that Infosys stole trade secrets related to TriZetto Software Group.
In January, Infosys, India’s second largest IT major, filed an antitrust case against Cognizant, accusing it of leveraging monopoly power in the healthcare software market. Infosys named Cognizant’s senior officials including chief executive officer Ravi Kumar S, who was a president at Infosys until October 2022.
In May, a US district court had asked both companies to attempt resolving the case through an informal agreement.
However, during a joint videoconference on June 25, both the parties’ counsels hit a dead-end as they discussed the purported burden of interviewing individuals who worked on the client accounts identified in the complaint and then worked on Infosys Helix within 12 months.
“Infosys will generate and produce a report from its personnel allocation system that lists the individuals identified in its system as having worked on a project for a Facets or QNXT customer since 2016, to the extent available,” its counsel said in the joint statement. “Infosys cannot guarantee that the report reflects personnel allocation with 100% accuracy. Further, that an individual worked on a project for a client with Facets or QNXT does not necessarily indicate the individual performed services related to Facets or QNXT.”
TriZetto, which Cognizant acquired in a $2.7-billion deal in 2014, argued that it worked with Infosys to “identify a smaller set of employees that it would need to identify and explain what TriZetto confidential information that smaller set of employees had access to. But Infosys backtracked at the last minute after it agreed in principle on an approach…and raised new and unsubstantiated burden-based objections.”
It further pressed the court to order Infosys to provide information it had originally agreed to provide regarding individuals who worked on developing the test cases and adaptors, identify those who worked on three client accounts that also worked on TriZetto’s software and those who worked on both Customer B and Infosys’ competing Helix product.
Criticizing TriZetto’s objections as “lacking merit,” Infosys claimed that the former “would not agree to any approach that did not require questioning thousands of employees.”
Cognizant, which has its 70% workforce in India, and Infosys directly compete in the $280-billion-plus software services industry. Cognizant reported a revenue of $19.74 billion for the year ended December 2024 while Infosys posted $19.28-billion revenue for the year ended March 2025.
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