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12 July 2019Rory O'Neill

Ex-Tesla engineer admits to copying source code; denies wrongdoing

A former Tesla engineer has admitted in court to uploading the source code for an electric car autopilot function, but denies stealing trade secrets.

Tesla sued Guangzhi Cao at the US District Court for the Northern District of California in March this year, alleging that he stole confidential information before he began work at a rival Chinese autonomous car manufacturer.

In his answer to Tesla’s complaint, filed on Monday, July 8, Cao admitted to uploading the source code to his personal iCloud account.

But Cao denied Tesla’s characterisation of the information as trade secrets “on the ground that it is a legal conclusion to which no response is required”.

Cao claimed that, although he did not previously disclose making copies of Tesla files, he made “extensive efforts” to delete the files before leaving the company.

Chinese company XMotors offered Cao employment in December 2018. Tesla does not know when he started his new job at the Chinese company, but stated that his last day at the California-based company was January 4, this year.

WIPR has contacted XMotors for comment.

According to Tesla, “Cao still has, can access at will, and may be using all the source code needed to replicate Tesla’s proprietary autopilot technology, none of which he has a legal right to possess”.

DoJ indictment

US prosecutors have doggedly pursued those allegedly behind the theft of trade secrets for the benefit of Chinese companies in the courts.

In a separate case, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) yesterday, July 11, unsealed an indictment against engineer Xudong Yao for stealing trade secrets from an unnamed Chicago locomotive manufacturer.

According to the DoJ, Yao is currently at large and residing in China.

Prosecutors claimed that, within two weeks of being hired in August 2014, Yao downloaded more than 3,000 files relating to the system that operates the company’s locomotives.

After Yao was fired by the company for unrelated reasons in February 2015, he made copies of the trade secret information and began working for a Chinese automotive company.

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