US software firm Jolly Technologies has launched a scathing attack on India's ability to protect intellectual property after source code was apparently stolen from its Mumbai offices. The company is reported to be suing local police for failing to investigate the theft.
On 19th July, California-based Jolly reported the theft of portions of its source code and confidential design documents relating to one of its key products at its new research and development centre in Mumbai, India.

According to the firm, Sudha Iyer, a recently hired 25-year-old female software engineer, used her e-mail account to upload and ship the copied files out of the research facility. Despite worldwide interest in the theft, the company says that to date it has still not been able to even officially register the theft with the Indian police.

Exhaustive efforts to pursue the matter by Jolly have been met with "utter and total reluctance to get involved" by the Mumbai police department, says the company.

Jolly alleges that when the complaint was initially submitted, even top level officials, when asked about the case, claimed to be unaware of any intellectual property protection laws and refused to acknowledge the complaint. India does have a regime of intellectual property law that provides for criminal penalties, including imprisonment. Yet, according to Jolly, the general consensus amongst the Indian police continues to be that the fault lies with Jolly for allowing the theft to occur.

According to SiliconValley.com, Jolly Technologies has now sued, charging the Mumbai police with negligence. The company has also reported the case to the FBI in the US and the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation.

"In an era where American corporations are outsourcing more sensitive data than ever before," says the firm, "Indian authorities appear ill-prepared and extremely reluctant to handle the law enforcement duties required to support such an environment."

"What the law enforcement officials fail to realise is that by refusing to uphold Indian law, they are jeopardising both the American corporations that have entrusted their data to Indian facilities as well as the jobs of potentially thousands of hard working and honest Indian workers," the company added.

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