Tesla sues ex-employee for allegedly stealing confidential software code

The carmaker has sued one of its former employees for allegedly stealing company information

American electric vehicle company Tesla has sued one of its former employees for allegedly stealing company information.

According to The Verge, Tesla stated that software engineer Alex Khatilov stole files from the company's internal network related to its Warp Drive software. This software is used to automate many of the company's business processes.

In the lawsuit, Tesla alleged that Khatilov moved files to his personal Dropbox account and that he was one of the few company employees who had access to that file. However, Khatilov has told Tesla investigators that he "forgot" about moving the files to his personal Dropbox when confronted and that he had unintentionally moved the files.

Tesla has had an old history of not hesitating in suing, in order to protect the company's proprietary data. As per The Verge, back in December, the company settled a matter with former process technician Martin Tripp, who admitted to leaking confidential information to a reporter.

In 2019, Tesla had sued self-driving startup Zoox accusing four of its employees, who had previously worked at Tesla, of taking confidential documents. That case was settled last April, with Zoox admitting that "certain of its new hires from Tesla" were in possession of Tesla documents.