Tesla Inc. sued a former engineer claiming he illegally transferred confidential data on its supercomputer expertise to his personal laptop and turned over a “dummy” laptop computer for inspection to cowl up the theft.
Tesla is creating an in-house supercomputer, dubbed Challenge Dojo, to cope with large quantities of information, together with video from Tesla vehicles, and utilizing it to create autonomous driving software. Alexander Yatskov was employed in January as a thermal engineer to assist design cooling methods for the pc, which generates numerous warmth, Tesla stated within the grievance.
“These thermal designs and knowledge are confidential and tightly guarded inside Tesla,” the electric-car maker stated.
However Tesla stated Yatskov admitted to downloading confidential data from his Tesla gadgets to his private gadgets, after he was confronted. He turned over a “dummy” laptop for inspection by Tesla to try to cowl his tracks, the corporate stated.
Yatskov stop on Could 2 and has refused to return the data, Tesla stated within the grievance.
When reached by telephone, Yatskov stated he wasn’t conscious of the grievance and declined to instantly touch upon it.
Tesla additionally accused Yatskov of mendacity in his resume about his experience and work expertise. He additionally breached a non-disclosure settlement that barred him from disclosing commerce secrets and techniques, Tesla stated.
“It is a case about illicit retention of commerce secrets and techniques by an worker who, in his quick time at Tesla, already demonstrated a observe file of mendacity after which mendacity once more by offering a ‘dummy’ system to try to cowl his tracks,” Tesla stated in its grievance.
Tesla is looking for compensatory and exemplary damages and an order that may cease Yatskov from disseminating its commerce secrets and techniques and direct him to return all proprietary knowledge.
The case is Tesla Inc. v. Yatskov, 5:22-cv-02725, U.S. District Courtroom, Northern District of California (San Jose).
