Engineer accused of stealing proprietary information about Tesla's Optimus robot during employment term, leading to a legal action by the company.
In a recent development, Tesla Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Proception Inc., a Y Combinator-backed startup, alleging the theft of confidential information related to Tesla's humanoid robot program, Optimus. The case, Tesla Inc. v. Proception Inc. et al., Case No. 5:25-cv-04963, is currently underway in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
At the heart of the dispute is Zhongjie "Jay" Li, a former engineer at Tesla who was part of the Optimus program's sensor engineering team from 2022 to 2024. According to the complaint, Li had access to highly sensitive technical data, particularly regarding robotic hand design, a crucial component of the Optimus project.
The complaint alleges that Li misappropriated trade secrets before leaving Tesla to launch a competing robotics firm, Proception Inc. In the final weeks of his employment, Li is said to have downloaded confidential files related to robotic hand development onto two personal smartphones and accessed internal systems just hours before leaving Tesla.
Proception, which markets its humanoid robotic hands as the most advanced in the world, aims to revolutionize human-robot interaction. However, Tesla argues that this timeline would not have been possible without leveraging misappropriated intellectual property. Tesla's attorneys claim that Proception used the stolen data to bypass years of research and billions in investment, gaining an unfair advantage in the competitive humanoid robotics space.
Six days after leaving Tesla, Li incorporated Proception in Palo Alto, California. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and exemplary damages, as well as a court order barring Li and Proception from using any of Tesla's proprietary materials. The complaint also includes claims of unjust enrichment and improperly disrupting Tesla's existing or potential business relationships.
As of now, Li and Proception have not publicly responded to the lawsuit. No legal counsel has appeared on behalf of Li or Proception in court filings. The complaint was first reported by Bloomberg on June 11, and the full complaint can be read below. The lawsuit cites violations under the Defend Trade Secrets Act and California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
It is important to note that this is a developing story, and there are no search results directly describing a federal lawsuit between Tesla and Proception regarding stolen trade secrets or specifically involving the Optimus robot program. However, Tesla is facing multiple legal challenges related to its Autopilot and robotaxi technologies, including a $243 million verdict in Florida over a fatal Autopilot crash and shareholder lawsuits accusing Tesla of securities fraud for overstating the safety and reliability of its autonomous driving systems.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
- Tesla's lawsuit against Proception Inc. involves allegations of stolen trade secrets, specifically those concerning the Optimus program's robotic hand design, which is a critical aspect of artificial intelligence and technology.
- The dispute between Tesla and Proception is centered around the use of misappropriated intellectual property in the development of Proception's advanced humanoid robotic hands, potentially providing an unfair advantage in the competitive humanoid robotics space utilizing artificial intelligence and technology.
