Hexaware faces $500 million patent lawsuit

American information technology (IT) services firm Natsoft Corp. sued Hexaware Technologies Ltd for breach of contract and patent infringement, seeking $500 million in damages from the latter, in one of the biggest patent cases against an Indian IT firm.

- Jas Bardia

The amount sought by Natsoft as damages is a little more than a third of Hexaware’s full-year revenue last year.

Privately held Natsoft filed the lawsuit against India’s tenth-largest IT company in an Illinois district court on September 23, stating the latter used application modernization software whose work was covered by nine patents developed by Updraft, an IT services company Natsoft acquired in 2024.

For Hexaware, a $500 million fine translates to almost four times its net profit of ₹1,174 crore ($132 million) for the last fiscal year. Hexaware, which follows a January-December financial calendar, ended last year with $1.43 billion in revenue, up 14% on a yearly basis.