Wisconsin judge slashes $940 million penalty against TCS in IP theft case to $420 million

BENGALURU: Tata Consultancy Services said a US court issued an order that more than halved the $940 million jury award granted to EPIC Systems, which had accused the Indian IT company of stealing its trade secrets.

The Western District Court of Wisconsin issued an order reducing the $940 million awarded to the US healthcare software firm to $420 million. The Indian IT company said it still plans to appeal the decision.

Last year, ET had reported that EPIC had asked the judge to reduce the $940 million award to $720 million. The quantum of the jury award violated a Wisconsin law which prevents the award of punitive damages of more than twice the compensatory damages. A Wisconsin jury awarded EPIC $240 million in compensatory damages and $700 million in punitive damages, meaning the award fell afoul of the law.

“The company has received legal advice to the effect that the order and the reduced damages awarded are not supported by evidence presented during the trial and a strong appeal can be made to superior court to fully set aside the jury verdict,” TCS said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Epic had claimed that TCS employees were brought on as consultants to a Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center in Portland, Ore., to help implement an Epic system there and took more than 6,000 documents containing Epic's system development information by creating a fake user account. EPIC said TCS used the illegally acquired information to create its own healthcare system.

“The company did not misuse or derive any benefit from EPIC’s documents and plans to defend its position vigorously before the trial judge as well as in appeal,” TCS said in the filing.

TCS said the order will not have an impact on its second-quarter results, which will be announced on October 12th.