Elon Musk, start -up companies of artificial intelligence, and the lost commercial secrets status

A second lawsuit filed by an artificial intelligence company claiming that a former employee stole commercial secrets Submitted In California, a few days after Illon Musk xi He claimed that she had experienced recently Companies spy.

In this case, Scale AI, a leading company in data naming, raised the Mercor Inc. competition. In the Federal Court on Wednesday, accusing the start of operation and a former employee in the secrets of trade in its misuse to win new businesses.

The value of the range is estimated at about $ 29 billion after a huge Metha invests $ 15 billion.

Allegations

CaseWho was submitted at the US District Court of the Northern Region in California, targeting Eugene Ling, the former head of the Sand Participation Department, and his new workplace, Mirror.

The case is Scale Ai Inc. Against mecor.io Corporation, 25-CV-07402.

In its file, the domain Ling download More than 100 secret documents, including customer strategy materials and product information, to Google’s personal engine while still working in the company and after meeting with MECOR CEO.

According to the complaint, Ling then contacted one of the best Scale customers, referred to as “Customer A”, on behalf of MERCOR while he is still widely, even arranging calls for MERCOR services. The lawsuit claims that this effort was an attempt to steal business of “millions of dollars”.

Attempts to reach Ling Lawyer have not succeeded. But on social media, Ling to publish He “did not use” any of the scale files and is “still awaiting instructions on how to solve this.”

“I just wanted to say that there was no right intention here,” he wrote. “I am really sorry for my new MERCOR team because of having to deal with this.”

Mercor response

The founder of Markour Syria is its Media He denied any misuse Among the Scale’s intellectual property, saying that although many previous size employees joined Mercor, the two companies operate under “intentionally different” strategies. He added that Mercor investigates the matter and offered to delete any documents in his possession.

“While MERCOR rented many people who left the domain, we have no interest in any of the trade secrets of the scale, and in fact they run our business in a different way”, “Midha He said in a statement.

“Eugene informed us that he had old documents in the Google Personal engine, which we have never reached and we are looking for now,” she says. “We have continued to strive six days before the offer that Eugene destroys files or access to a different solution, and we are now waiting for their response.”

The domain, in turn, argues that Ling to destroy files will lead to the elimination of decisive evidence. The company seeks to obtain compensation, legal fees, and a judicial order prohibits MERCOR from using the stolen material, and the return of all wrong documents.

The Legal Step for Scale is another headache for a turbulent period of the company, which recently witnessed huge Meta investments, employed the CEO of Scale Alexandr Wang by Meta, and the workforce reduces 14 %.

Cutthroat competition comes to the courts

The issue emphasizes the intense competitive nature of the area of ​​artificial intelligence, where intellectual property – especially the data strategy and customer relationships – is the key to dominating the market. the situation It reflects another secret lawsuit for tradeWhen Illon Musk sued a former engineer for stealing secret information on his way to a competitor.

In this case, Musk claimed that Zhihao “Zack” stole secret files associated with the development of GROK, Chatbot for the company, before leaving to the Openai competitor.

The complaint, which was submitted in the California State Court, accuses Lee, who joined Xai last year as an engineer, to copy the property materials in July 2025 shortly after approval to take a job in Openai. The court files say that I also sold $ 7 million Xai acquired Xai before his departure.

According to the lawsuit, he admitted to me during an internal meeting on August 14 that he had taken sensitive documents, although Xai claims that he tried to “cover his paths” by deleting the files. Criminal checks later reveal additional materials that are still stored on its devices, as the company claims.

Musk starts starting that stolen information can allow Openai to enhance Chatgpt with what you describe as “the most innovative artificial intelligence and fictional features.”

This issue is Xai Corp V. Xuechen Li, the American Provincial Court, the Northern Province in California, No. 3: 25-CV-07292-RFL

What are the broader effects?

For investors and artificial intelligence industry in general, the lawsuit is highlighted.

First, the theft of complex intellectual property and the restaurant, or even their appearance, can quickly change competitive sites in a market where trust and royal data are a currency. Second, it indicates that the companies emerging from artificial intelligence may increase increasingly into legal ways to impose borders and protect the grass.

When artificial intelligence becomes part of the many technology that we see and use all the time, companies that make them protect them will become more protection for their products and brands. The value of royal data and customer relationships make legal protection, and the precedents specified through lawsuits like this, the following boundaries of companies that look forward to protecting their tools and reputation.

“The range has become a pioneer in the industry on the strength of our ideas, innovation and implementation,” said Joe Osborne, a SCALE spokesman, in a statement. “We will not allow anyone to take illegal shortcuts at the expense of our actions.”