Damages Against TCS Halved To $420 Million In U.S. Trade Secrets Case
TCS says reduced damages not supported by evidence, will appeal.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. said a U.S. court has reduced damages imposed on India’s largest information technology services provider by more than half in a trade secrets case with American software firm Epic Systems Corp.
The U.S. Western District Court in Wisconsin reduced the damages to $420 million from $940 million granted by a jury verdict in April last year, the company said in its stock exchange filing. 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, it said.
TCS had in June last year filed with the Wisconsin Federal Judge to vacate the $940-million verdict. Epic opposed it arguing that the court can’t vacate the award but can reduce it as Wisconsin law limits the punitive damages to double the amount of compensatory damages.
The jury had asked TCS to pay punitive damages of $700 million and it’s U.S. subsidiary Tata America International Corp to pay $240 million in compensatory damages to Epic for “ripping off” its healthcare-related software. Epic had dragged TCS to court arguing that it gained access to the trade secrets while consulting for insurer Kaiser Permanente.
(Corrects an earlier version that misstated the damages in the headline)
