US Grand Jury slaps India’s TCS with $940 million fine in ‘Trade secret’ lawsuit

On Friday, a federal jury has fined Tata Consultancy Services $940 million in penalty. Majority of the fine would be coming from the punitive damages, based on the trade secret lawsuit filed by a US-based company.

According to International Business Times, India's top IT company, Tata Consultancy Services, will pay $940 million due to the lawsuit filed by US-based medical software company, Epic Systems. TCS said it would appeal on the verdict in higher courts.

Epic filed the lawsuit in 2014, accusing  the Indian company of secretly downloading confidential information for a software it had been hired to help install. They allege that TCS stole some trade secrets to help the company's rival healthcare software provider, Med Mantra.  Epic claims that one TCS employee's account was allegedly used in India and several US locations to download 6,477 documents. 

Indian Express reported that TCS reacted on this verdict, claiming it "did not misuse or derive any benefit from downloaded documents from Epic System's user-web portal." The federal jury's ruling says that they are going to pay $240 million to Epic Systems for ripping off the software and another $700 million in punitive damages.

Times of India said that the verdict is one of the most adverse handed down to an Indian company abroad. TCS said that "While TCS respects the legal process, the jury verdict on liability and damages was unexpected as the company believes they are unsupported by the evidence presented during trial. TCS plans to defend its position vigorously in appeals." They added that "TCS appreciates the trial judge's announcement." They believe that the judge will eventually reduce the damages award.

TCS is a company that has over 344,000 consultants in 46 countries. I  has generated a consolidated revenue of $15.5 billion in 2015. The tech giant is looking forward to appeal against the ruling as it is allowed within 30 days of the trial judgment, according to US law.

Tags

Tata, TCS, India, US, IT company, Epic Systems, Med Mantra, Tata Consultancy Services, Trade secrets

© 2023 Lawyer Herald All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.