Travel Guru sued by software provider for copyright breach

Leading online travel services provider Travel Guru has been sued by Final Quadrant Solutions, a software vendor, for copyright infringement.

According to a petition filed by Quadrant in the Delhi High Court, Travel Guru allegedly copied its software solution "Final Quadrant SuiteCase".

The lawsuit seeks compensation from Travel Guru for alleged copyright infringement and breach of licence terms by unlawfully terminating the same to "escape" its licence payment obligation.

Travel Guru, which offers concessional fares for flights, hotel rooms and holiday packages within the country and abroad, denied the charges and said the lawsuit is an act of a "disgruntled vendor" whose contract was terminated due to poor service.

Company officials said Final Quadrant's service was not satisfactory and claimed that a new software platform was developed independently for their use by a third party vendor. "The earlier platform used to be a dot.net version. We are now using a Java version. Similarity (of features) on a homepage does not mean similarity in the platform technologies used," they said.

Legal representatives of Final Quadrant countered this by claiming that Travel Guru had grown as the country's best online travel service provider during the period it used the company's software platform.

Independent consultants feel the Final Quadrant-Travel Guru case is among the first few instances that have become public about a software provider alleging that a client copied crucial software. They add that more such cases are likely to come up in the future.

Pawan Duggal, a lawyer who specialises in information technology law, said India is yet to see any major intellectual property related litigation in the IT sector. "However, it is bound to happen in the next 12-18 months. Copyright issue is going to be a matter of litigation among IT players," he said. Duggal is not associated with the Final Quadrant-Travel Guru litigation.

In support of their claims, Final Quadrant officials pointed out the similarity in the features of www.travelguru.com, the online booking site, continues even after the service contracts for using Quadrant technology were cancelled. Final Quadrant provides travel technology systems to a wide range of European and American companies in the travel sector.

The court has already issued summons in the suit and ex-parte order restraining Travel Guru from continuing the use of Final Quadrant's software system or any infringing version without payment of licence fees until the next date of hearing.

Meanwhile, a court-appointed commissioner, in his report, said that Travel Guru had given him a CD in a sealed envelope, claiming to contain its current key source code.The commissioner also pointed out the 'defendant company's representatives did not permit the plaintiff's representatives to verify its authenticity'.