HC quashes case against Infosys Chief Narayana Murthy

The Karnataka High Court has quashed the case pertaining to 'dishonouring National Anthem' against Infosys Chief mentor Narayanamurthy.

Justice K Bhakthavatsala, allowing a petition by Mr Narayanamurthy, seeking quashing of the proceedings initiated against him by the Second Additional Chief Metropolitan Court, Bangalore, taking cognisance of a complaint filed by Kannda Rakshana Vakilara Vedike, quashed the case.

The Judge said he (Mr Narayana murthy) had not committed any violation of the Act and playing of instrumental version of the National Anthem was not offensive.

Earlier, the complainant alleged that the petitioner Naraynamurthy had committed a crime under Section 3 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act.

The complainant alleged that Mr Narayanamurthy had prevented singing of the National Anthem and merely allowed the Anthem to be played on instruments during former President A P J Kalam's visit to Infosys Mysore campus on April 8.

In his petition, Mr Narayanamurthy contended that the magistrate had no jurisdiction in taking cognisance and issuing a summons.

Original Story

The Buying Triangle says Infosys is holding its data hostage at an offshore location

In a lawsuit, The Buying Triangle says Infosys is holding its data hostage at an offshore location, exposed its customer data online, and stole its business plans

AUGUST 7, 2007 A provider of spend management services says one of India's largest outsourcers is holding its data hostage at an offshore location and is refusing to return the information unless legal claims against it are dropped.

New York City-based The Buying Triangle also says that Infosys, through a subsidiary, exposed its customer data online and stole its business plans.

TBT hired Infosys BPO last year, when the unit was known as Progeon Ltd., to host, support, and maintain its P2P Smart spend management application. TBT customers access P2P Smart online to help analyze and reduce their purchasing costs.

The deal quickly went sour after TBT found that its customers were frequently unable to access P2P Smart because servers Infosys set up in Bangalore to host the application were frequently down, TBT alleges in a lawsuit it's filed against Infosys BPO.

"Between July 2006 and March 2007, there were approximately 15 different occasions in which the FTP server was unavailable," TBT charges in court papers filed in June in U.S. District Court for Southern New York.

To boot, TBT alleges Infosys BPO failed to properly secure customer information on the P2P Smart server. The result: TBT's customers were able to view each other's confidential data, TBT claims.

TBT says that when it tried to cancel its contract with Infosys BPO in April, the Indian service provider refused to release its data unless TBT promised not to pursue any legal claims. "Infosys would return neither TBT's intellectual property nor the confidential account data of TBT clients," TBT alleges in court papers.

TBT also alleges that on a site visit to Bangalore its employees discovered that Infosys was using confidential TBT marketing materials to pitch clients like CIBC, Alcoa, and British Petroleum on a spend management service that Infosys was contemplating. "It is clear that Infosys intends to enter the procurement space occupied by TBT, supplying a motive for its wrongful refusal to return TBT's trade secrets," TBT claims.

TBT is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $600,000.

For its part, Infosys says TBT is making up false allegations against it in order to escape payment for services. "Infosys has fully performed under the agreement," the company says in a countersuit it filed last month against TBT.

Infosys claims it's owed more than $40,000 in unpaid fees and is asking the court to award damages.

Original Story