(HT)
A 10-month legal battle between two of the world’s largest information technology (IT) services companies may be drawing to a close, with a Dallas court asking Cognizant and Infosys to join a conference call with it to settle parts of their dispute.
In a May 23 order, the court welcomed both parties to discuss matters pertaining to the case over a call with the court.
“This is not an invitation to engage in ex parte communications or obtain advisory rulings from the court,” judge David L. Horan clarified. “Rather, the parties are required to attempt to resolve by agreement any disputes on non-dispositive pretrial discovery matters by meaningfully conferring before seeking the court’s involvement.”
The order directs Cognizant and Infosys to discuss and settle disagreements on what information they’ll share before trial. “But, if that fails to resolve the dispute, the parties are encouraged, where appropriate, to seek an informal telephone conference with the court to attempt to resolve simple and straightforward disputes in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”
In a separate order, the court asked Cognizant to provide by 13 June details of people with knowledge of Infosys’s healthcare software product and names of individuals it believes stole its proprietary software. It also directed the IT company to identify all measures it took to protect the confidentiality of the information it considers to be trade secrets by the same day.
Still, the court ruled that Cognizant was not expected to further specify the trade secrets it alleged were misappropriated beyond what it had already stated, dismissing Infosys’s motion to compel Cognizant to identify the allegedly stolen trade secrets, which the court termed ‘interrogatory no. 1.’
“The court denies Infosys’s motion to compel Cognizant to serve a supplemental answer to Interrogatory No. 1 at this time,” read the order.
Cognizant said in response to Mint’s queries on Tuesday, “The court made clear that Infosys cannot shield itself behind a self-imposed protective order to avoid disclosing information it is contractually and legally obligated to provide. We have been surprised by Infosys’s refusal to produce this information—particularly given our clear entitlement to it under the parties’ agreement and through standard discovery rules. The only reasonable explanation for Infosys’s continued concealment is that the withheld documents will reveal the true scope and impact of Infosys’ misconduct.”
A query emailed to an Infosys spokesperson was unanswered.
