A federal judge in Manhattan has been asked to determine if a lawsuit can proceed that accuses the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office of stealing the secrets behind a computer program used to identify the remains of 9/11 victims.

The lawsuit, filed in March by Gene Codes, a software development company based in Ann Arbor, Mich., accuses the medical examiner’s staff of providing the Federal Bureau of Investigation with information about the technology behind Gene Codes program. It seeks tens of millions of dollars in damages.

The city filed a countersuit for $10 million, accusing Gene Codes of failing to live up to its contract.

According to Gene Codes, the city approached it in the weeks after the attacks because it did not have a system for processing the DNA from such a large collection of remains, many of which were badly burned.