A federal judge in California has ruled that Nvidia must stand trial in November over allegations it benefited from trade secrets taken from French auto supplier Valeo, Bloomberg reported. The ruling rejected Nvidia's request to dismiss the case, citing circumstantial evidence that the company advanced its parking assistance technology using confidential data.
Former Valeo engineer at center of lawsuit
The dispute stems from a collaboration in 2021 between Nvidia and a German unit of Valeo SE on a project for Mercedes-Benz. Valeo alleges one of its engineers, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, joined Nvidia that year and later exposed confidential source code during a video conference. Valeo employees said they captured a screenshot of the material before the engineer closed his screen. Moniruzzaman has since been convicted in Germany of violating business-secrecy laws.
According to BBC and Silicon Republic, Valeo alleges that Moniruzzaman stole tens of thousands of files, including source code related to advanced parking and driving assistance systems, which are critical to the project. During a joint video call with both Nvidia and Valeo staff, Moniruzzaman mistakenly shared his entire screen after a presentation, revealing Valeo's trade secrets labeled as "ValeoDocs." This screenshot prompted Valeo to launch criminal and civil actions against both Moniruzzaman and Nvidia, accusing the tech giant of benefiting from stolen intellectual property.
Nvidia has denied using stolen information to develop its own parking assistance technology, saying it revoked the engineer's work on the project and terminated his employment. The company maintains that its progress in autonomous driving systems was based on independent development.
Ruling highlights code resemblances
US District Judge Noel Wise said that Valeo had identified "a number of circumstantial facts" suggesting Nvidia relied on the engineer's "tainted work." In her 15-page ruling, she noted that Nvidia made rapid gains in parking technology after the trade secrets were shared and that the company's autonomous driving code contained functionalities closely paralleling Valeo's stolen files.
Wise dismissed three of Valeo's seven trade-secret claims but allowed the central allegations to proceed to trial. The case is scheduled for a jury trial in San Jose, California, in November.
Article edited by Jack Wu
