Qudos wins source code battle in Infosys court case

Requested by Federal Court to provide more source code documentation

System integrator Infosys is being asked to provide further documentation on source code it created for financial services customer Qudos Bank, following allegations of copyright infringement, breaching contract terms and misuse of confidential information.

In a case brought to the Federal Court of Australia in front of presiding judge, Justice Stephen Burley, Qudos is making allegations that Infosys may have acted in breach of confidence and infringed copyright after producing similar software for Australian Military Bank (AMB).

Infosys initially produced documents in relation to consent orders that were delivered on 20 December, but Qudos is seeking court orders to obtain more documentation from Infosys relating to source code of the Qudos UAT site hosted by Infosys and a copy of the online and banking platform developed for Qudos.

It also seeks further documentation on the source code of the user experience and user interface (UX/UI) of the mobile and online banking solution that Infosys developed for AMB.

“Infosys adheres to well-established processes in delivering services and has successfully designed and deployed many business critical banking solutions globally including Australia," a spokesperson for Infosys told ARN. "The Company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and will vigorously defend itself in any litigation.

"The company will not disclose any information pertaining to the Qudos contract in adherence to our confidentiality."

In 2015, Infosys was selected by Qudos as the technology supplier in its digital transformation project, with the two entering into a Master Banking Services Agreement. 

The project involved an integrated banking platform including core banking, customer relationship management, and online and mobile banking. A third party contractor, HealthWallace was also brought into the project to design the UX/UI, providing UX prototypes, visual design assets for interfaces, and front end software code (Qudos UX code).

Infosys put the Qudos UX code into its framework in order to help create the back end and ensure it was interactive with the front end, stitching the HTML pages of the UX/UI developed by HealthWallace to create user flow.

Two years later in 2017, Qudos became aware of Infosys’ engagement with AMB to assist in creating its core, online and mobile banking platform.

It was then that Qudos employees noted similarities between Qudos and AMB’s UX/UI platforms. The AMB solution was launched in February 2018 with HealthWallace picking out a number of common designs, according to court orders.

"Qudos Bank is concerned that Infosys may have misused Qudos’ intellectual property and confidential information in developing software for another financial services group, Australian Military Bank (AMB)," a spokesperson for Qudos said.

"Earlier this year, Infosys produced some documents and computer code as part of this action but resisted producing other documents that Qudos Bank sought."

It was also brought to their attention that the Infosys employee working on the AMB solution, was the same employee engaged in Qudos’ project, while they were stationed at Qudos’ office.

After comparing to the UX/UI interfaces, Qudos recognised the potential infringement of copyright and breach of confidential information, which then triggered a series of investigations.

Cyter director Rodney McKemmish, who is a forensic technology and cyber consultant, was brought in to examine the evidence.  

When Qudos raised these concerns with Infosys, the integrator did contend that it developed a custom made product for AMB using Finacle software product constructs, custom requirements from AMB and ‘publicly available information,’ whereby Infosys says the Qudos solution became publicly available on the internet under the Qudos UAT URL, but this was not the case, because the site was only accessible with a confidential log-in code.

"In the judgment this week, Justice Stephen Burley said there were 'common elements within the structure' of the AMB and Qudos codes, and 'unexplained references to Qudos' in the AMB code," Qudos added.

Both parties attempted to resolve the dispute until June 2018, but it ultimately led to Qudos terminating its Master Banking Services Agreement with Infosys in October that year.


Story updated at 9:33am on 24 May to include Qudos Bank statement.

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