Rivian EV SUV.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Tesla is suing electric vehicle startup Rivian, saying in a filing this week that its rival stole trade secrets and looted employees.
“Rivian is knowingly encouraging the misappropriation of the trade secret, Tesla’s confidential and private information by the Tesla employees that Rivian hires,” the company said in a lawsuit. The lawsuit also named four former Tesla employees, Tami Pascale, Kim Wong, Jessica Siron and Carrington Bradley, for allegedly taking confidential information.
“About last week, Tesla discovered a disturbing pattern of employees leaving for Rivian by surreptitiously stealing Tesla’s proprietary, confidential and confidential business information, information that is especially helpful to the newly created electric vehicle company. And Rivian encourages such thefts. even though Rivian knows very well the confidentiality obligations of Tesla employees, “Tesla said in the presentation.
Rivian employs approximately 2,300 people, and Tesla claims that 178 of them are former Tesla employees.
“The allegations in this lawsuit are unsubstantiated and contrary to Rivian’s culture, spirit and corporate policies,” a Rivian spokesperson told CNBC. “By joining Rivian, we require all employees to confirm that they have not, and will not, introduce the intellectual property of former employers into Rivian’s systems.
It is not the first time that Tesla has sued a former employee for allegedly stealing information or called a company for trying to steal from its employees. Last year, Tesla accused Zoox, a driverless car startup, and several former employees of allegedly stealing information from the company. Zoox struck a deal with Tesla in April and agreed to pay an undisclosed amount and undergo an audit.
Tesla also filed a similar lawsuit in 2017 against a former employee involved in Tesla’s automated driving program that the company had left to co-found a self-driving startup called Aurora, and then settled.
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