C1 India Ltd, a subsidiary of the US-based Commerce 1, on Friday refuted the claims of Antares Systems Ltd, a Bangalore-based IT firm operating in the electronic tendering product space, that it had violated the latter's copyright and infringed upon its intellectual property rights.

In response to a questionnaire on the case filed by Antares against C1 and four others under sections 43 and 46 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, C1 president and chief operating officer Vivek Agarwal told rediff.com that the company was upset to notice that such frivolous allegations were made in spite of the matter being sub-judice.

• First case under Indian cyberlaw filed

"Antares is trying to publicise the case, and we shall file a defamation case against it. We are determined to fight this case, and we are sure that we will win," Agarwal asserted.

Antares filed the case against the New Delhi-based subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Commerce1, seeking damages of Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million), along with interest at the rate of 24 per cent per annum.

The case, filed on behalf of the company by Supreme Court advocate Pavan Duggal, is pending before Prakash Kumar, adjudicating officer under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and special secretary (IT), Delhi government.

The case came up for hearing on July 9, and as counsel for the respondents had sought time, the adjudicating officer adjourned it to August 13.

According to Agarwal, Antares approached C1 for a tie-up and offered to demonstrate its product. It negotiated with C1 for a possible tie-up, which did not materialize.

"We asked Antares to send its official for the demonstration of its software. The company, however, told us to visit its test site and see the software for ourselves. Now, it is accusing us that since we saw its test site, we copied its software. This is an unrealistic accusation to make," Agarwal alleged.

Antares' senior vice-president R Kamath told a news conference in Bangalore on July 11 that his company had also charged the respondents with, among others, developing their own e-tendering solution by copying the essential features of the company's product, Tenderwizard.

Kamath also claimed that Antares shared the user ID and password of Tenderwizard with C1 for online evaluation, but the latter, after the successful bid, 'dumped' the company.

Denying the charge, Agarwal said his technical team had confirmed that the password, which was supplied by Antares, never worked.

"Even if we have visited the site, nobody can copy the software by visiting the test site," Agarwal said.

Elaborating the company's stand on the case, Agarwal said that any software would be made of three components:

• Look and feel of software: This includes the formats in which one can see the software. And in C1's case, this has been completely governed by the Andhra Pradesh government. Every department gives its own look and feel requirements.
• Process: This includes defining the workflow and the level of authorities that each department can give to each individual in the department. Again, this has been completely governed by the Andhra government. Every department gives its own process requirements.
• Technical architecture: This is the technology C1 uses. While Anatres uses Oracle and Java, C1 uses Microsoft.

"So where is the question of copying the software? We represent Commerce 1 in India, and if at all we will be influenced, we will be influenced by Commerce 1, and not from a company like Antares," Agarwal stated.

"Any company would be crazy if it attempts to first copy the software in Java and then convert it into Microsoft platform," he said.

Earlier, Antares had claimed that the respondents collaborated with the company to jointly bid as a consortium for the e-procurement initiative of the Andhra Pradesh government in September last.

Anatres, however, claimed that C1, as the lead bidder, executed the agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government for the deployment of the project without its knowledge and consent.

The project, valued at Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million), consisted of an e-procurement component and an e-tendering component.

Antares also accused C1 of having downloaded and/or copied as also extracted data and information from its computer system or network.

The company said complaints to the Andhra Pradesh government did not elicit any response so far.

Antares files case against Andhra government

In a related development, Antares filed a case against the Andhra Pradesh government in the Delhi high court on the e-governance project, which was executed by C1 without its involvement.

According to Kamath, the case came up for hearing before the high court on July 21. When the counsel for C1 and the Andhra Pradesh government sought time to file their written statement, the court directed them to file them within one week.

"The matter has been adjourned to August 13 for arguments on injunction application," Kamath told rediff.com in Bangalore on Friday.