Samsara accuses rival Motive of stealing trade secrets in new lawsuit

Samsara (Pre-Reincorporation)

13/11/2024 19:13

By Blake Brittain
       Nov 13 - Internet-of-things company Samsara  IOT.N 
escalated its legal dispute with competitor Motive Technologies
on Wednesday, filing a new lawsuit in California state court
accusing Motive and its CEO Shoaib Makani of orchestrating a
"massive, years-long scheme of trade secret theft" related to
Samsara's business.
    Motive allegedly solicited confidential information from
former Samsara employees to create competing dashcams and
vehicle fleet management technology, saving it "years of
research and development" according to a copy of the complaint
provided by Samsara.
    Samsara filed separate lawsuits against Motive in Delaware
federal court and at the U.S. International Trade Commission
earlier this year for allegedly infringing its patents. Motive
has countered with its own lawsuit in California accusing
Samsara of copying its technology.
    Motive said in a statement that Samsara's new lawsuit was
"yet another attempt to distract from the fact that Motive
delivers superior AI technology and value to customers." The
company noted an ITC office's finding, made public on Tuesday,
that Samsara's case there was unlikely to succeed.
    Samsara said in a statement that it is "committed to
defending our company's innovation and the hard work of our
dedicated employees."
    San Francisco-based Samsara, which specializes in dashcams
and fleet-management products, went public in 2021 with venture
capital backing from Andreessen Horowitz. Its rival Motive, also
based in San Francisco, rebranded from KeepTruckin in 2022.
    Samsara said it learned from the ITC case that Motive
possessed documents summarizing confidential Samsara business
strategies and other secret information. According to the new
lawsuit, the ITC case also revealed orders from Makani for
Motive employees to "interview the former Samsara employees that
they had hired, get as much information about Samsara and its
business operations and its products and features as they could"
and "use that information to help Motive sell products."
    Samsara asked the court for an unspecified amount of
monetary damages and court orders barring Motive from misusing
its trade secrets.
    The case is Samsara Inc v. Motive Technologies Inc, Superior
Court of the State of California for the County of San
Francisco.
    For Samsara: Josh Krevitt, Stuart Rosenberg, Ilissa Samplin,
Brian Rosenthal and Kate Dominguez of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
    For Motive: attorney information not yet available
    
    Read more:
    Samsara sues rival over dashcam, fleet-tracking technology
    Motive Technologies sues rival Samsara over AI dashcam,
fleet-management technology