Tesla has filed a lawsuit against competitor Rivian accusing the electric vehicle maker of stealing employees and trade secrets, according to the complaint posted by Tesla news website Tesmanian.
The Elon Musk-owned company said in the suit filed in a San Jose, Calif., state court that Rivian has hired former Tesla employees in breach of their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and encouraged those employees to “take” trade secrets and other proprietary information “as they leave Tesla.”
“Tesla has recently discovered … an alarming pattern among Tesla employees recently leaving to join Rivian. As Tesla now knows, Rivian instructed one recently departing Tesla employee about the types of Tesla-confidential information that Rivian needs. Both Rivian and the employee knew full well that taking such information would violate the employee’s [NDA] obligations to Tesla,” the suit reads.
Tesla did not immediately respond to an inquiry from FOX Business.
Rivian has hired a total of 178 former Tesla employees, the complaint says.
A Rivian spokesperson told FOX Business that Tesla’s lawsuit is “baseless” and runs “counter to Rivian’s culture.”
