Tesla has filed a lawsuit against its former supplier, Matthews International, in a California federal court. The electric vehicle manufacturer accuses Matthews of stealing trade secrets related to its battery-manufacturing process and sharing them with Tesla’s competitors.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Matthews owes Tesla damages, which are “conservatively estimated to exceed $1 billion,” for the misuse of trade secrets related to dry electrode battery manufacturing technology.
Representatives and attorneys for both Matthews and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
According to the complaint, Pittsburgh-based Matthews began supplying Tesla with manufacturing machinery in 2019. Tesla claims it shared trade secrets with Matthews concerning dry-electrode coating, a technology that can significantly reduce the size, cost, energy consumption, and production cycle time of battery manufacturing plants while enhancing the energy density and power of battery cells.
The lawsuit alleges that Matthews shared Tesla’s innovations with unnamed competitors by selling “machines and other technologies embodying Tesla’s trade secrets.” Additionally, it claims Matthews attempted to patent Tesla’s inventions as its own, revealing confidential Tesla information in the process.
Tesla is seeking an injunction to prevent Matthews from further misusing its trade secrets, the transfer of Matthews’ patent applications to Tesla, and monetary damages.
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