Epic's lawsuit against India's Tata Consultancy begins in court

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A federal trial started Monday in Madison, Wis., over a 2014 lawsuit filed by Epic Systems alleging an Indian consultancy agency stole trade secrets from the EHR vendor, according to a Wisconsin State Journal report.

Epic, based in Verona, Wis., filed a lawsuit against Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services and Tata America International Corp., its U.S. subsidiary based in New York, on Oct. 31, 2014. The lawsuit alleges employees of the consulting company "brazenly" stole trade secrets, confidential information, documents and data while helping a Portland, Ore.-based Kaiser Permanente facility use its Epic EHR.

The lawsuit alleges Tata employees downloaded at least 6,477 documents containing information that could be used to benefit Tata's own hospital management software called Med Mantra. Tata previously filed a motion to dismiss the case, which the judge denied.

The court order denying Tata's motion to dismiss the case indicates Tata employees accessed and downloaded this information without authorization beginning in 2012, and the vendor learned of the activity from an individual who was managing Tata's contract with Kaiser.

According to the court order, one Tata employee named Ramesh Gajaram downloaded documents that were not necessary for him to perform his job duties. Mr. Gajaram also admitted to giving his access credentials to two Tata employees in India, who also did not need access to that information to perform their job duties.

Epic alleges Tata leaders "were aware of and complicit in this scheme," according to the court order.

The EHR vendor seeks an injunction and damages.

The trial jury is expected to last two weeks, presided over by U.S. District Judge William Conley, according to Wisconsin State Journal.

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Hours before NYC Health + Hospitals rolls out new EHR, CEO Dr. Ram Raju sets the record straight 

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