Tesla, Rivian in court over trade secrets

[kanundrum]

Case management Conference starts tomorrow at 10am PST, funny Tesla wants this to go to Trial with a Jury in Fall of 2022 haha. Theatrics much?

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[skyote]

Unless you're a lawyer.

Exactly. They're often the only parties that really win when it comes to litigation.

 

[MReda]

Exactly. They're often the only parties that really win when it comes to litigation.

And because of that, Tesla has already won.

Tesla is sending a message - if an employee leave to work at a competitor, or if a competitor poaches a valued employee, Tesla will make it painful and expensive. It doesn't matter what happens in the end, as long as that message is heard.

 

[Pherdnut]

"Stolen HR Recruiting Documents" just not as sexy in the headlines as "Trade Secrets" I guess. This is one of the pettiest of Musk's lawsuits so far.

 

[Rivian-WI]

Tesla is sending a message - if an employee leave to work at a competitor, or if a competitor poaches a valued employee, Tesla will make it painful and expensive. It doesn't matter what happens in the end, as long as that message is heard.

Not a good message a company should be sending to its employees. Makes them look like controlling freaks. If they truly want to control this, have employees sign NDAs and non-competes. Most non-competes have a 1 year time-frame. People just find something else to do and then jump back to what they do best a year later.

 

[DuckTruck]

Not a good message a company should be sending to its employees. Makes them look like controlling freaks. If they truly want to control this, have employees sign NDAs and non-competes. Most non-competes have a 1 year time-frame. People just find something else to do and then jump back to what they do best a year later.

With so many States not doing much to honor non-compete, these seem to be largely ceremonial, a threat to keep employees from moving to a competitor. Non-disclosures are another story, as we've read that sharing copyrighted, trademarked, and/or patented things does get the attention of the courts and juries. The non-competes can make life hard for the person, but a non-dislosure violation can hit the offending employer much harder.

 

[timesinks]

Not a good message a company should be sending to its employees. Makes them look like controlling freaks. If they truly want to control this, have employees sign NDAs and non-competes. Most non-competes have a 1 year time-frame. People just find something else to do and then jump back to what they do best a year later.

Non-competes are almost always unenforceable in CA. And I guarantee some form of NDA is at issue in the claim.

 

[PAFDenver]

I don't think Tesla cares at all about the outcome of this - they did what they intended to. They dirtied Rivian's reputation in the public eye. I have no idea whether Rivian is guilty, but regardless, Rivian has been portrayed as a technology thief. People will never know or remember whether it's mostly about HR matters, not core tech, Rivian is now perceived as having stolen from the only US tech success story of the last 50 years.
I hate so much the legal system is now so focused on the court of public opinion, and not the actual court of law. As messed up as the latter is, the former is a complete farce and very dangerous. I expect that if lawsuits were only allowed to be revealed AFTER the suit is complete this, and many other, suits would simply never come to be. All you need to do is FILE a suit, let it get some press and you have damaged your rival. It doesn't matter whether the other person is guilty or not, damage done - the company that filed the suit has already "won" regardless of the legal verdict.
How much press coverage would it get if the suit was tossed? How prominent would it be? And would people motive or remember it? And then would it tarnish Tesla's reputation. Almost none, not the least, nope and finally not at all.
It's like if a newspaper runs a huge headline about someone being *accused* of something terrible. They can splash that on page 1 for weeks and then when it's disproven or dropped, MAYBE they put a small article buried on page 30. Or a 2 sentence retraction if they actually made an accusation that was later refuted.
I am trying to reserve judgment about both companies until the suit is over, but having worked for a number of the largest US-based tech companies for decades and knowing how they work internally, I am extremely suspicious of this suit. I have never worked for a company that would want ANYTHING to do with someone else's stolen IP and when you leave - talk about a cluster****! The amount of incompetence involved in employees leaving a company would make "Office Space" look like a recruiting video for Initech!

 

[Eeyore]

I just want to buy a normal looking electric pickup truck. Is that too much to ask?

 

[Rhidan]

I just want to buy a normal looking electric pickup truck. Is that too much to ask?

I’ve wondered if the production Cybertruck will end-up being more “normal” when Elon/Tesla finally releases info on the production design. Wouldn’t be surprised if it ends looking much more like the R1T, or there is a version that looks more like the R1T

 

[PAFDenver]

I read somewhere that Elon explained that the reason it looks like it does is because the metal they use for the body is so strong it kept breaking the presses when they tried to form normal body panels. So they ended up having to do very simple forming. That's why the outside is made up of just a few straight bends. Can't say how true that is, but it sounded plausible.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I read somewhere that Elon explained that the reason it looks like it does is because the metal they use for the body is so strong it kept breaking the presses when they tried to form normal body panels. So they ended up having to do very simple forming. That's why the outside is made up of just a few straight bends. Can't say how true that is, but it sounded plausible.

Like the “shatter-proof” glass that shattered, twice, when they demoed it?

 

[McRat]

Elon still demands that everyone believe he invented the electric car.
He didn't even found Tesla ...

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Elon still demands that everyone believe he invented the electric car.
He didn't even found Tesla ...

There's definitely been some serious revisionism around who the "Founder(s)" were.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.#Founding_(2003–2004)

 

[SANZC02]

I look at Elon Musk to be more like Henry Ford. Neither one invented the automobile or electric automobile but both were very instrumental in making them acceptable and available to the masses.