Tesla files $1mn lawsuit against ex-employee over trade secret theft
What's the story
Tesla has filed a $1 million lawsuit against former employee Martin Tripp alleging trade secret theft. Tesla claims that Tripp hacked the company's confidential information and transferred it to third parties. He is also accused of spreading false information regarding Tesla's internal workings to the media. Tripp was hired at Tesla's massive battery factory near Reno, Nevada, as a process technician in October 2017.
Confidential information
Tripp wrote code to periodically export company data, Tesla alleges
According to court documents, Tripp has "admitted to writing software that hacked Tesla's manufacturing operating system and to transferring several gigabytes of Tesla data to outside entities." This confidential data included media content, to the tune of "dozens" of photographs and a video, about Tesla's manufacturing systems. The lawsuit states Tesla has only now begun to fully understand the scope of Tripp's illegal activities.
False claims
Tripp acted out of retaliation for being reassigned jobs: Tesla
The lawsuit states, "Tripp claimed that punctured battery cells had been used in certain Model 3 vehicles even though no punctured cells were ever used in vehicles." "Tripp also vastly exaggerated the true amount and value of 'scrap' material that Tesla generated during manufacturing," it added. Here, Tesla is referring to recent media reports claiming 40% of raw materials in Tesla batteries is scrap.
Information
Sabotage is a forever looming threat, says Musk
This isn't the first time CEO Elon Musk has accused former employees of sabotage, the most recent case being of a factory fire wherein Musk referenced sabotage as a possible cause. Two years ago, Musk's other company SpaceX also alleged sabotage after a rocket exploded.
Twitter Post
Have discovered a saboteur in Tesla: Musk in internal e-mail
There is more, but the actions of a few bad apples will not stop Tesla from reaching its goals. With 40,000 people, the worst 1 in 1000 will have issues. That’s still ~40 people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 20, 2018