TCS: The Copy-Paste Saga: A $210 Million Verdict, Corporate Espionage, and the High Cost of Accountability
The lawsuit dates back to 2019 and involves the Computer Science Corporation (CSC). They are primarily a software service provider for insurance firms. One of their products, “Vantage,” has become an insurance industry standard. It assists businesses in creating new policies, calculating returns, and managing claims, and CSC has licensed Vantage to some of the world’s largest insurance firms, including Transamerica, a US-based life insurance company.
This company started using Vantage in 1994. However, Transamerica stated in 2018 that they would be migrating from CSC’s Vantage to a new TCS-marketed system called BaNCS. Tata Consultancy Services was awarded a $2 billion contract in the process.
CSC estimated that TCS should have spent at least 5-7 years adapting BaNCS for the US market. TCS, on the other hand, promised to complete it in record time. And CSC realized that something more evil was stirring in the background.
The Start of The Story
Several things. First, consider TCS’s relationship with Transamerica. Since 2014, the Indian software giant has assisted the organization in maintaining its IT infrastructure. They also got access to Vantage as part of their maintenance job. Then, in 2019, they hired around 2,200 Transamerica personnel, many of whom were well-versed in CSC’s Vantage system.
Around the same time, one of CSC’s employees discovered something unusual. He had been supervising the usage of Vantage software at one of Transamerica’s locations. Transamerica was seeking to figure out how the Vantage program performed a specific set of computations. And what occurred after that depends on whatever version you trust.
Transamerica was seeking to figure out how the Vantage program performed a specific set of computations. And what occurred after that depends on whatever version you trust.
TCS was having trouble reproducing these sophisticated computations in the BaNCS platform. So, in a series of email exchanges, they gained access to and communicated confidential Vantage material with various colleagues, including those on the BaNCS development team. One of the team members reportedly copied the source code and sent it to another team member via email. As a result, the tale is known as the “copy-paste” saga.
TCS claims they were only responding to a normal question. After all, they were supposed to assist Transamerica in maintaining Vantage. So, when one of Transamerica’s workers became worried that a certain set of computations wasn’t appropriately accounting for a specific circumstance, he contacted TCS. They replied by gaining access to Vantage’s source code to troubleshoot the problem.
What is the Verdict?
TCS was found guilty by a jury in a US court, and the corporation was fined $210 million. Taking a cue from a past instance, consider Epic Systems vs. TCS. In 2003, Epic leased its software to Kaiser Permanente, the biggest managed healthcare provider in the United States.
In turn, Kaiser inked a contract with TCS in 2011 to test and maintain its systems. TCS initially had limited access to Epic’s electronic health record software, even though it was intended to assist Kaiser in maintaining and thoroughly testing the system. They even requested that Epic provide improved access, which the firm swiftly denied.
A TCS employee had previously worked for another firm, and by falsely identifying himself as an employee, he acquired complete access to Epic’s health record technology. And, at the request of his TCS boss, he provided his credentials to many TCS colleagues.
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They then used this knowledge to develop Med Mantra, a competitive solution and even wrote a comparative analysis between Med Mantra and Epic’s software to gain clients in the United States. The comparative analysis sheet contained specific facts regarding Epic’s software that only people with access to private information would have known about. When a TCS employee, Philip Guionnet, read the paper, he decided to bring the whole thing to light. Epic sued TCS and was awarded $140 million.
Conclusion
This was not a simple “copy-paste” job. During the Epic case, TCS workers reportedly misled investigators, accusing them of wilful misinformation. And it might have something to do with how intellectual property is handled in India. The courts in the United States will not grant you a pass. They will hold you responsible. In this situation, accountability has come at a high cost.
