NVIDIA finds itself entangled in a legal dispute initiated by French automaker Valeo, following an inadvertent exposure during a collaborative screensharing session. Per Valeo's allegations, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, an engineer formerly affiliated with NVIDIA, unintentionally revealed source code files on his screen during a joint meeting in 2022. Valeo's personnel swiftly identified the code, capturing screenshots before Moniruzzaman became aware of his error.
It's noteworthy that Valeo and NVIDIA collaboratively engage in advancing parking and driving assistance technology for a manufacturer's clientele. Initially overseeing both the software and hardware facets of the manufacturer's parking assistance tech, Valeo relinquished control of the software development contract to the larger corporation in 2021. In its legal claim, Valeo contends that Moniruzzaman, a pivotal contributor to their parking and driving assistance systems, recognized the potential significance of his access to proprietary technologies, deeming himself highly valuable to NVIDIA.
According to Valeo's lawsuit, Moniruzzaman illicitly granted his personal email access to Valeo's systems, pilfering "tens of thousands of files" and 6GB of source code shortly after the contractual shift. Subsequently departing Valeo a few months later, he carried the stolen information to his senior role at NVIDIA, coincidentally working on the same project he was previously engaged in for Valeo—an aspect evident during the ill-fated video conference.
Valeo asserts that its former employee confessed to the software theft, with German law enforcement discovering documentation and hardware related to Valeo in Moniruzzaman's residence during a raid. Bloomberg reports his conviction for business secrets infringement in a German court, resulting in a €14,400 ($15,750) fine in September.
In a missive dated June 2022, NVIDIA's legal representatives communicated that the company "holds no interest in Valeo's code or its purported trade secrets" and has taken swift, tangible measures to safeguard its client's asserted rights. Despite this, Valeo proceeded with a lawsuit earlier this month, alleging that NVIDIA illicitly gained savings amounting to "millions, perhaps hundreds of millions" and generated undeserved profits by appropriating its trade secrets.
This incident underscores the intensifying competition within the autonomous driving sector. A parallel scenario unfolded in 2017 when Waymo accused Uber of colluding with its ex-employee, Anthony Levandowski, to purloin over 14,000 confidential and proprietary design files. Although Levandowski received an 18-month prison sentence, he obtained a pardon six months later from then-President Donald Trump.