A US court has asked Cognizant to disclose the nature of its trade secrets after Infosys denied allegations of stealing them, a report claims. In a court filing earlier this month, the Bengaluru-based information technology (IT) services company argued that the information Cognizant claims as trade secrets are readily available through a simple internet search and therefore not protected.

This legal battle between the two IT giants centres on Cognizant's accusations that Infosys misappropriated confidential information related to its healthcare solutions. The request to clarify the nature of trade secrets comes after Infosys moved the court seeking Cognizant to identify them properly.

In the court filing (seen by Mint), Infosys wrote: “It (Cognizant) instead relies on vague and overbroad definitions of 'Trade Secret and Confidential Information' that identify every aspect of two-decade-old software products, QNXT and Facets, and everything related to them as the purported trade secrets of Cognizant that were allegedly misappropriated by Infosys. That is wrong, both factually and legally. A cursory internet search reveals public information about these software applications, and an enormous number of healthcare, insurance, and IT services workers have access to QNXT and Facets.”
In a recently submitted joint response, Cognizant requested an extension until March 10, 2025, to address Infosys's counterclaim.

Infosys and Cognizant have been involved in a legal battle over the alleged theft of trade secrets since August 2024 when the latter accused the former of stealing trade secrets of its software products that are used to process insurance claims in the healthcare sector.
Infosys has claimed that the information Cognizant considers confidential is publicly available and that former Infosys executive Ravi Kumar S., now Cognizant's CEO, delayed the rollout of Infosys' healthcare products while in talks to join Cognizant.