The Apple logo appears in the Apple Store in Brooklyn, New York, USA, October 23, 2020. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
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- Summary
- Law firms
- Related documents
- Rivos is said to be targeting Apple employees who have classified information
- The lawsuit alleges that Rivos is working on integrated circuits such as those working with Apple laptops and phones.
(Reuters) – Technology startup Rivos Inc claims to have stolen Apple Inc’s trade secrets for computer chips after snatching its engineers, Apple said in a lawsuit filed in California federal court.
Apple’s lawsuit on Friday said Mountain View, California-based Rivos had hired more than 40 of its former employees in the past year to work on competing system-on-chip (SoC) technology and that at least two former Apple engineers have taken gigabytes of confidential information with them to Rivos.
Rivos is a stealth startup that has largely avoided public attention since its inception last year. It did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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Apple declined to comment.
SoCs are integrated circuits that include several computer components on a single chip, including CPUs and GPUs.
Apple says it has spent billions of dollars and more than a decade researching its SoC designs, which “revolutionized the world of personal and mobile computing.”
Apple said in the lawsuit that Rivos deliberately wanted to hire Apple engineers with access to the technology giant’s SoC trade secrets. He cited the names of two former engineers, Bhasi Kaitamana and Ricky Wen, who allegedly stole thousands of SoC design files and other confidential information from Rivos.
Kaitamana did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wen could not be found for comment.
The lawsuit also said that several other unnamed Rivos employees took confidential documents when they left Apple, and that defendants tried to cover their tracks by deleting data from their Apple-issued devices.
Apple said its secrets could be used to “significantly accelerate” the development of competing SoCs. He asked the court to block Rivos from using his trade secrets, order his former employees to return his property and award him an undisclosed amount of damages.
The case is Apple Inc v. Rivos Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, № 5: 22-cv-02637.
For Apple: Brian Wilson, Arturo Gonzalez and Mary Prendergast of Morrison & Foerster
For Rivos: n / a
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Blake Britton
Thomson Reuters
Blake Britain reports on intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Contact him at blake.brittain@thomsonreuters.com
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