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."
