Industrial espionage
Trade-secret theft and talent-poaching between companies — insiders who take material to a rival, and the competitors alleged to have benefited. We track these as an aggregate litigation record by industry and geography, deliberately not as named threat actors: a company being a defendant in a civil suit does not make it a threat actor. The individuals who carried the act are tracked separately under threat actors (insider category).
86
documented cases
61
with a named victim org
25 / 88
domestic / cross-border (victim-level)
1993–2026
span
By industry
Which industries see the most trade-secret / talent-poaching litigation.
| Industry | Cases | |
|---|---|---|
| Automotive: electric vehicles | 15 | |
| Automotive: vehicle manufacturing | 11 | |
| Automotive: autonomous vehicles | 8 | |
| Defense contractors | 6 | |
| Automotive: EV batteries | 5 | |
| Software: trading systems | 5 | |
| Software: machine learning | 5 | |
| Software: computer vision | 3 | |
| Automotive: LiDAR sensors | 3 | |
| Cloud computing: SaaS | 3 | |
| Electronics: contract manufacturing | 3 | |
| Consumer electronics: assembly | 3 | |
| Technology platforms: social media | 2 | |
| Advertising technology | 2 |
Geography
22% domestic (same region as victim), 77% cross-border (foreign competitor). Cross-border cases are the ones with a national-security dimension.
Cases (86)
Public civil suits, indictments, and SEC filings. Companies named here are not tracked as threat actors — this is a litigation record, not an attribution.
| Named in suit | Counterparty | Industry | Region | Year | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klarna Bank (Pagaya BNPL underwriting suit 2026) | Pagaya | Financial services: BNPL, Software: credit underwriting | EU | 2026 | source |
| Microsoft Corp. (Salesforce / Slack engineer recruitment claims) | — | Enterprise software: collaboration, Cloud computing: SaaS | US | 2026 | source |
| Insta360 (DJI patent counter-suit 2026) | DJI | Consumer electronics: drones, Consumer electronics: cameras | APAC | 2026 | source |
| Snap Inc. (Apple Vision Pro defendant 2025-2026) | Apple | Consumer electronics: AR/VR, Software: computer vision | US | 2025 | source |
| Geely Auto (Nokia 5G SEP suit UPC 2024) | — | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Telecommunications: 5G | APAC | 2024 | source |
| Geely Holding (WM Motor 2024 record damages plaintiff) | WM Motor, Volvo, Renault | Automotive: electric vehicles, Automotive: vehicle manufacturing | APAC | 2024 | source |
| WM Motor (Geely 2024 SPC trade-secret defendant) | Geely | Automotive: electric vehicles, Automotive: vehicle manufacturing | APAC | 2024 | source |
| OpenAI (Google / DeepMind researcher-defection civil claims) | Anthropic, Google Brain / DeepMind | Software: artificial intelligence, Software: machine learning | US | 2023 | source |
| Anthropic (OpenAI / Google researcher-recruitment claims) | OpenAI | Software: artificial intelligence, Software: machine learning | US | 2023 | source |
| NVIDIA Corp. (Valeo source-code 2023 verdict) | Valeo | Semiconductor: AI accelerators, Automotive: autonomous vehicles | US | 2023 | source |
| DJI / SZ DJI Technology (Textron $279M drone-patent verdict) | Textron, Bell, Insta360 | Consumer electronics: drones, Aerospace: UAS | APAC | 2023 | source |
| BOE Technology (Samsung Display OLED ITC trade-secret 2023-2025) | Samsung Display | Electronics: OLED displays, Consumer electronics | APAC | 2023 | source |
| Meta Platforms (Snap discovery dispute over rival documents) | — | Technology platforms: social media, Advertising technology | US | 2022 | source |
| Audi AG / VW Group (BYD-recruitment defendants 2022-2024) | — | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | EU | 2022 | source |
| Lucid Motors (Tesla engineer-recruitment suits) | — | Automotive: electric vehicles, Automotive: EV powertrain | US | 2021 | source |
| Two Sigma Investments (alumni trade-secret civil disputes) | — | Financial services: quantitative trading, Software: trading systems | US | 2021 | source |
| Coinbase Global (Binance.US civil exchange-engineer claims) | — | Financial services: cryptocurrency exchanges, Software: trading systems | US | 2021 | source |
| BMW AG (Mercedes / Daimler civil engineer-recruitment disputes) | Audi, Porsche, Daimler/Mercedes | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | EU | 2021 | source |
| Stellantis NV (Renault / PSA legacy civil engineer disputes) | Renault-Nissan | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | EU | 2021 | source |
| OPPO (Nokia / InterDigital SEP defendants 2021-2023) | — | Consumer electronics: smartphones, Telecommunications: mobile | APAC | 2021 | source |
| Rivian Automotive (Tesla 2020 trade-secret civil suit) | Tesla | Automotive: electric vehicles, Automotive: EV batteries | US | 2020 | source |
| Spotify Technology (VoxTonePRO/Mujae 2020 trade-secret) | Mujae Group (VoxTonePRO) | Software: audio streaming, Advertising technology: audio ads | EU | 2020 | source |
| Robinhood Markets (Citadel and IEX HFT-engineer civil claims) | Citadel | Financial services: retail brokerage, Software: trading systems | US | 2020 | source |
| Snowflake (Teradata civil claims over engineer defections) | Oracle, Teradata, MicroStrategy | Enterprise software: data warehousing, Cloud computing: analytics | US | 2020 | source |
| Apple Inc. (Masimo pulse-oximetry trade-secret 2020-2024) | Masimo, Cercacor | Consumer electronics: wearables, Medical devices: pulse oximetry | US | 2020 | source |
| L'Oréal SA (Olaplex 2019 trade-secret + patent verdict) | Olaplex | Consumer products: hair care, Specialty chemicals: cosmetics | EU | 2019 | source |
| Velodyne LiDAR / Ouster Inc. (multiple IP disputes) | Quanergy, Hesai | Automotive: LiDAR sensors, Automotive: autonomous vehicles | US | 2019 | source |
| DoorDash (Uber Eats / Postmates trade-secret civil disputes) | Uber Eats, Postmates | E-commerce: food delivery, Software: logistics | US | 2019 | source |
| Instacart (Maplebear) — DoorDash trade-secret civil dispute | DoorDash, Shipt | E-commerce: grocery delivery, Software: logistics | US | 2019 | source |
| Qualtrics (Medallia trade-secret civil claim 2019) | Medallia | Enterprise software: customer experience, SaaS | US | 2019 | source |
| Datadog (New Relic / Dynatrace civil claims over hires) | New Relic, Dynatrace | Enterprise software: observability, Cloud computing: monitoring | US | 2019 | source |
| Twilio (Bandwidth / Vonage civil claims after SendGrid) | Bandwidth, Vonage | Telecommunications: CPaaS, Software: communications APIs | US | 2019 | source |
| Mercedes-Benz Group (NIO / BYD engineer-recruitment disputes) | — | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | EU | 2019 | source |
| Capgemini SE (IT-consultancy non-compete civil disputes) | Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Atos | IT services: consulting, IT services: systems integration | EU | 2019 | source |
| NIO Inc. (alleged Tesla / Apple engineer beneficiary) | Tesla, Apple, Mercedes-Benz | Automotive: electric vehicles, Automotive: autonomous vehicles | APAC | 2019 | source |
| BAIC Group (Daimler / Hyundai alleged engineer beneficiary) | Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | APAC | 2019 | source |
| WeRide (alleged Apple / Waymo engineer beneficiary) | Apple, Waymo | Automotive: autonomous vehicles, Software: machine learning | APAC | 2019 | source |
| Megvii Technology (Face++ — US Entity-Listed) | — | Software: computer vision, Surveillance technology | APAC | 2019 | source |
| SenseTime Group (US Entity-Listed AI vendor) | Megvii, Hikvision | Software: computer vision, Surveillance technology | APAC | 2019 | source |
| Hesai Group (Velodyne / Ouster LiDAR civil disputes) | — | Automotive: LiDAR sensors, Automotive: autonomous vehicles | APAC | 2019 | source |
| TSMC (GlobalFoundries 2019 patent cross-suits) | GlobalFoundries | Semiconductor: foundry services, Semiconductor: chip fabrication | APAC | 2019 | source |
| LG Energy Solution (SK Innovation 2019-2021 ITC $1.8B) | — | Automotive: EV batteries, Automotive: electric vehicles | APAC | 2019 | source |
| SK Innovation (LG Chem 2019-2021 ITC defendant) | LG Energy Solution | Automotive: EV batteries, Automotive: electric vehicles | APAC | 2019 | source |
| Kia Corporation (Ford / Hyundai civil disputes) | — | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | APAC | 2019 | source |
| Coupa Software (SAP Ariba civil claims over employee defection) | — | Enterprise software: spend management, Enterprise software: procurement | US | 2018 | source |
| Cloudflare (Akamai trade-secret civil claims) | Akamai, Fastly | Internet infrastructure: CDN, Cybersecurity: edge | US | 2018 | source |
| Intel Corp. (Micron 2018-2020 NAND civil counter-claims) | Micron | Semiconductor: NAND flash memory, Semiconductor: memory | US | 2018 | source |
| Indra Sistemas (Spanish defense civil IP disputes) | Thales, Airbus Defence | Defense contractors, Defense: radar and electronics | EU | 2018 | source |
| Atos SE (Sopra Steria / Capgemini civil disputes) | Capgemini, Thales, Sopra Steria | IT services: consulting, Cybersecurity: government | EU | 2018 | source |
| SAIC Motor (Volkswagen / GM JV-defection civil disputes) | Shanghai-VW, SAIC-GM | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | APAC | 2018 | source |
| GAC Group (Honda / Toyota JV-defection civil disputes) | — | Automotive: vehicle manufacturing, Automotive: electric vehicles | APAC | 2018 | source |
| Pony.ai (alleged Waymo / Apple engineer beneficiary) | Waymo, Apple, Cruise | Automotive: autonomous vehicles, Software: machine learning | APAC | 2018 | source |
| Hon Hai / Foxconn (Apple manufacturing-IP civil disputes) | Apple, Pegatron | Electronics: contract manufacturing, Consumer electronics: assembly | APAC | 2018 | source |
| CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology) | LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, ATL | Automotive: EV batteries, Electronics: lithium-ion cells | APAC | 2018 | source |
| Veeva Systems (IQVIA trade-secret 2017-2025) | IQVIA | Enterprise software: life sciences CRM, Healthcare software: data products | US | 2017 | source |
| IQVIA Holdings (Veeva counter-claim defendant) | Veeva | Healthcare software: data products, Enterprise software: life sciences CRM | US | 2017 | source |
| Amazon.com (Walmart logistics engineer recruitment civil claims) | Walmart | E-commerce: logistics, Software: supply chain | US | 2017 | source |
| DocuSign (Adobe Sign / Echosign civil non-compete claims) | Adobe | Enterprise software: e-signature, Cloud computing: SaaS | US | 2017 | source |
| SentinelOne (Cylance / BlackBerry civil claims) | Cylance, BlackBerry, Carbon Black | Cybersecurity: endpoint protection, Cybersecurity: EDR | US | 2017 | source |
| Continental AG (Bosch / Schaeffler civil disputes) | Bosch, Schaeffler | Automotive: parts manufacturing, Automotive: ADAS | EU | 2017 | source |
| Thales Group (Atos / Safran civil defense-IP disputes) | — | Defense contractors, Defense: radar and electronics | EU | 2017 | source |
| Baidu Apollo (Waymo / Tesla alleged engineer beneficiary) | Waymo, Tesla, Apple | Automotive: autonomous vehicles, Software: machine learning | APAC | 2017 | source |
| UMC (post-Jinhua semiconductor civil disputes) | TSMC, Vanguard International Semiconductor | Semiconductor: foundry services, Semiconductor: DRAM memory | APAC | 2017 | source |
| Samsung SDI (LG Chem / CATL civil disputes) | — | Automotive: EV batteries, Electronics: lithium-ion cells | APAC | 2017 | source |
| Quanergy Systems (Velodyne LiDAR 2016 cross-suits) | — | Automotive: LiDAR sensors, Automotive: autonomous vehicles | US | 2016 | source |
| Citadel Securities (Jump Trading trade-secret 2014-2016) | — | Financial services: high-frequency trading, Software: trading systems | US | 2015 | source |
| Wistron Corp. (Apple / Compal civil disputes) | — | Electronics: contract manufacturing, Consumer electronics: assembly | APAC | 2015 | source |
| Adidas AG (Nike 3-designer civil suit 2014) | Nike | Consumer products: athletic footwear, Consumer products: apparel | EU | 2014 | source |
| ServiceNow (BMC Software trade-secret civil disputes) | BMC, CA Technologies | Enterprise software: ITSM, Cloud computing: SaaS | US | 2014 | source |
| Pinterest (Facebook / Twitter civil non-compete claims) | Meta, Twitter | Technology platforms: social media, Advertising technology | US | 2014 | source |
| Zoom Video Communications (Cisco WebEx civil claims) | Cisco | Enterprise software: video conferencing, Cloud computing: communications | US | 2014 | source |
| CrowdStrike (McAfee / Symantec civil claims) | McAfee, Symantec, NortonLifeLock | Cybersecurity: endpoint protection, Cybersecurity: threat intelligence | US | 2014 | source |
| Leonardo S.p.A. (BAE / Lockheed civil defense-IP disputes) | Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems | Defense: military aircraft, Defense contractors | EU | 2014 | source |
| Saab AB (Swedish defense civil IP cross-claims) | — | Defense: military aircraft, Defense contractors | EU | 2014 | source |
| Dassault Aviation (Safran civil IP disputes) | — | Aerospace: military aircraft, Defense contractors | EU | 2014 | source |
| Pegatron Corp. (Apple / Foxconn civil cross-disputes) | — | Electronics: contract manufacturing, Consumer electronics: assembly | APAC | 2014 | source |
| Pirelli & C. SpA (Michelin / Bridgestone civil disputes) | Continental, Michelin, Bridgestone | Automotive: tires, Manufacturing: rubber compounds | EU | 2013 | source |
| Workday (Oracle HCM civil claims) | Oracle, SAP SuccessFactors | Enterprise software: HCM, Enterprise software: financials | US | 2011 | source |
| ZTE Corporation (Nokia / Ericsson SEP cross-disputes) | Nokia, Ericsson, InterDigital | Telecommunications: network equipment, Telecommunications: 4G/5G infrastructure | APAC | 2011 | source |
| Palantir Technologies (i2 Group trade-secret 2010-2013) | i2 Inc | Software: intelligence analytics, Defense contractors | US | 2010 | source |
| Airbus SE (Boeing 787 fuselage civil counter-claim 2010) | — | Aerospace: commercial aviation, Aerospace: composite materials | EU | 2010 | source |
| TomTom NV (Microsoft FAT32 / GPS patent dispute 2009) | Microsoft | Automotive: navigation systems, Software: mapping | EU | 2009 | source |
| MediaTek Inc. (Qualcomm civil patent + non-compete disputes) | — | Semiconductor: mobile SoCs, Semiconductor: design IP | APAC | 2007 | source |
| Unilever PLC (Nestlé / P&G civil disputes) | Nestlé, Procter & Gamble | Consumer products: food and personal care, Consumer products: nutrition | EU | 2005 | source |
| Millennium Partners (Renaissance Technologies trade-secret 2003) | Renaissance Technologies | Financial services: hedge funds, Software: trading systems | US | 2003 | source |
| Nestlé SA (food-technology civil non-compete disputes) | Mondelez, Unilever, Danone, PepsiCo | Food and beverage: technology, Consumer products: nutrition | EU | 1993 | source |