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Rivian pushes back against Tesla, claims trade secret theft lawsuit spreads FUD
Tesla may have opened its patents to other automakers to help foster the rise of electric cars, but the company still maintains a number of key trade secrets. And as could be seen by Tesla’s legal actions last month, when these trade secrets are allegedly breached, it would not hesitate to file a lawsuit against those responsible, even if the company involved is a fellow electric car maker like Rivian.
In a lawsuit last month, the Elon Musk-led company claimed that Rivian has been engaging in trade secret theft through employees that are being poached from Tesla. The company noted that it has no issue with its former employees coming over to Rivian, but it draws the line when former staff break their NDAs and transfer sensitive trade secrets to the Detroit-based EV maker. So far, Tesla has accused Rivian of acquiring proprietary information related to its recruiting process, its bonus and compensation plan for sales personnel, and manufacturing project management, to name a few.
Rivian has denied any wrongdoing, and it has decided to push back against Tesla as well, asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit from the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker. Rivian argued that two of the three claims in Tesla’s case actually fail to state sufficient allegations of trade secret theft. Instead, the Detroit-based company argued that Tesla’s suit was primarily intended to damage Rivian’s reputation and hurt its recruiting efforts.
“Tesla did not file this case to defend or protect any legitimate intellectual property rights. Tesla sued in an improper and malicious attempt to slow down Rivian’s momentum and attempt to damage Rivian’s brand. And it sued in an abusive attempt to scare employees thinking about leaving Tesla. While Tesla itself recruits employees from other automotive and technology companies, it cries foul to Rivian, which competes, fairly, for this same automotive and technology talent.
“As is evident from the many defects on the face of its complaint, this lawsuit is driven by these improper aims, and Tesla’s desire to use the judicial system as a prop to deflect attention from Tesla’s own challenges, to foment fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Rivian, and to provide the pretext to disparage Rivian and its own former employees in the press.”
In a filing with the California Superior Court in Santa Clara on August 10, Rivian noted that it has “rigorous policies and procedures to make sure it does not obtain confidential information from other companies when on-boarding employees.” The company also claimed that none of the alleged stolen Tesla trade secrets have been located at Rivian or in any of its operations. As noted in a TechCrunch report, Rivian argued that since Tesla’s claims are based on speculation and not facts, the Elon Musk-led company could not adequately justify its right to sue.
Interestingly enough, Rivian did not stop there. Pushing further, the Detroit-based EV maker’s legal team argued that Tesla did not really file a case to defend or protect its proprietary information. According to Rivian’s lawyers, Tesla’s lawsuit is actually an “improper and malicious attempt to slow” down Rivian’s momentum, damage its brand, and possibly even scare away its employees.
“Unfortunately, maligning Rivian was not Tesla’s only ulterior motive. Rather, it crafted its complaint to achieve second improper purpose — namely to send threatening messages to its own employees: don’t dare leave Tesla. Understanding that the strong public policy favoring employee mobility in California restricts the use of non-compete contracts, Tesla’s complaint seeks to punish four of its former employees for leaving Tesla and joining the Rivian team.,” Rivian’s legal team wrote.
Tesla has so far not released a comment relating to Rivian’s response. Rivian’s response to Tesla could be accessed below.
Tesla Lawsuit Rivian Response by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
Tesla has launched a new Model Y configuration in the “Premium” trim, and it comes with three highly requested features that have launched in markets outside of the U.S. and in other trims.
Tesla announced on Monday night that it has officially launched the Model Y Premium in a seven-seat configuration, which also comes standard with a 16″ touchscreen and black headliner, both of which are featured in the Model Y Performance trim.
The seven-seat configuration is highly requested by consumers and helps fill out the more spacious SUV offering that the lineup has missed outside of the Model X, which prices out many consumers. This new upgrade only costs $2,500 extra for all three features, bringing the cash price to $48,990.
This also comes with the larger 16” touchscreen! pic.twitter.com/aiAxWUTKZa
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 13, 2026
The move to add the seven-seat configuration with the black headliner and additional screen size is a welcome addition, as many Tesla fans have asked the company to come out with an SUV with more seating capacity. Although it is not a full-size SUV, the additional seating will certainly attract some buyers with bigger families.
It appears the third row is slightly more spacious than the past iteration of the seven-seat Model Y, which was available in the previous design pre-Juniper:
Credit: Tesla
However, it definitely still appears to be pretty cramped in terms of legroom. It will definitely be a seating arrangement for smaller passengers, mostly reserved for children.
The other two upgrades are the black headliner, which was launched in other markets and in the Model Y Performance. Many owners have wanted this change, and Tesla listened, but is only offering it with the seven-seat configuration. It also has a larger 16″ touchscreen, also present in the Model Y Performance exclusively:
Credit: Tesla
It is a nice touch to add these highly requested features to the all-electric crossover, which was the best-selling vehicle in the world for the third consecutive year.
Tesla has expanded its branded ‘For Business’ Supercharger program that it launched last year, as yet another company is using the platform to attract EV owners to its business and utilize a unique advertising opportunity.
Francis Energy of Oklahoma is launching four Superchargers in Norman, where the University of Oklahoma is located. The Superchargers, which are fitted with branding for Francis Energy, will officially open tomorrow.
It will not be the final Supercharger location that Francis Energy plans to open, the company confirmed to EVWire.
Back in early September, Tesla launched the new “Supercharger for Business” program in an effort to give businesses the ability to offer EV charging at custom rates. It would give their businesses visibility and would also cater to employees or customers.
“Purchase and install Superchargers at your business,” Tesla wrote on a page on its website for the new program. “Superchargers are compatible with all electric vehicles, bringing EV drivers to your business by offering convenient, reliable charging.”
The first site opened in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, which is Northeast of Tampa, as a company called Suncoast launched the Superchargers for local EV owners.
Tesla launches its new branded Supercharger for Business with first active station
The program also does a great job at expanding infrastructure for EV owners, which is something that needs to be done to encourage more people to purchase Teslas and other electric cars.
Francis Energy operates at least 14 EV charging locations in Oklahoma, spanning from Durant to Oklahoma City and nearly everywhere in between. Filings from the company, listed by Supercharge.info, show the company’s plans to convert some of them to Tesla Superchargers, potentially utilizing the new Supercharger for Business program to advertise.
Moving forward, more companies will likely utilize Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program as it presents major advantages in a variety of ways, especially with advertising and creating a place for EV drivers to gain range in their cars.
Tesla Cybercab is perhaps the most highly-anticipated project that the company plans to roll out this year, and as it is undergoing its testing phase in pre-production currently, there are some things to work through with it.
Over the weekend, an image of the Cybercab being loaded onto a tow truck started circulating on the internet, and people began to speculate as to what the issue could be.
Hmmmmmm… https://t.co/L5hWcOXQkb pic.twitter.com/OJBDyHNTMj
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 11, 2026
The Cybercab can clearly be seen with a Police Officer and perhaps the tow truck driver by its side, being loaded onto, or even potentially unloaded from, the truck.
However, it seems unlikely it was being offloaded, as its operation would get it to this point for testing to begin with.
It appears, at first glance, that it needs assistance getting back to wherever it came from; likely Gigafactory Texas or potentially a Bay Area facility.
The Cybercab was also spotted in Buffalo, New York, last week, potentially undergoing cold-weather testing, but it doesn’t appear that’s where this incident took place.
It is important to remember that the Cybercab is currently undergoing some rigorous testing scenarios, which include range tests and routine public road operation. These things help Tesla assess any potential issue the vehicle could run into after it starts routine production and heads to customers, or for the Robotaxi platform operation.
This is not a one-off issue, either. Tesla had some instances with the Semi where it was seen broken down on the side of a highway three years ago. The all-electric Semi has gone on to be successful in its early pilot program, as companies like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo. have had very positive remarks.
The Cybercab’s future is bright, and it is important to note that no vehicle model has ever gone its full life without a breakdown. It happens, it’s a car.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that there has been no official word on what happened with this particular Cybercab unit, but it is crucial to remember that this is the pre-production testing phase, and these things are more constructive than anything.
Tesla Model Y gets fresh configuration with three highly requested features
Tesla expands its branded ‘For Business’ Superchargers
