Tata fined $940m in trade secrets dispute
A US court has fined Indian company Tata Group $940 million in a trade secrets lawsuit with a Wisconsin-based healthcare software company.
Tata has been ordered to pay two sets of payments to Epic Systems—$240 million for the benefits received by a Tata subsidiary as a result of the misappropriation, plus another $700 million in punitive damages.
Epic Systems sued Tata Consultancy Services, a Tata subsidiary, in 2014 accusing it of illegally downloading documents related to software it owns that allows healthcare companies to manage their billing and insurance benefits.
According to the complaint, Tata viewed Epic’s IP under the pretence that it was carrying out consulting work for Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare company which had hired Epic to manage its patient records.
The lawsuit alleged that Tata employees downloaded more than 6,400 documents containing information that could be used to benefit Tata’s own hospital management software called Med Mantra.
In a judgment handed down on Friday, April 15, the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin found in Epic’s favour on claims including trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition.
Tata is planning to appeal against the decision.
