Tesla Inc. sued a former engineer who claims he illegally transferred confidential information about his supercomputing technology to his own computer and transferred a “fake” laptop for testing to conceal cover up theft.
Tesla Inc. sued a former engineer who claims he illegally transferred confidential information about his supercomputing technology to his own computer and transferred a “fake” laptop for testing to conceal cover up theft.
Tesla is developing an in-house supercomputer, called Project Dojo, to process massive amounts of data, including video from Tesla vehicles, and use it to create autonomous driving software. Alexander Yatskov was hired in January as a thermal engineer to help design the computer’s cooling system, which generates a lot of heat, Tesla said in the complaint.
“These designs and thermal data are confidential and closely guarded within Tesla,” the electric carmaker said.
But Tesla said Yatskov admitted to downloading confidential information from his Tesla devices to his personal device, after he was confronted. The company said he gave a “fake” computer to Tesla to test to try and cover his tracks.
Yatskov resigned on May 2 and refused to return the information, Tesla said in the complaint.
When contacted by phone, Yatskov said he was unaware of the complaint and declined to immediately comment on it.
Tesla also accused Yatskov of lying on his resume about his expertise and work experience. Tesla said he also violated a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits him from disclosing trade secrets.
“This is a case of the unlawful retention of a trade secret of an employee who, during his short stint at Tesla, demonstrated a record of lying and then later lied by providing a ‘fake’ device to try and cover his tracks,” Tesla said in its complaint.
Tesla is seeking exemplary damages and damages and an order preventing Yatskov from disclosing his trade secrets and demanding that he return all proprietary data.
The lawsuit is that Tesla Inc. v. Yatskov, 5:22-cv-02725, United States District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
