Investigation Of Theft And Escalation: Xiaopeng Automobile Bland At Tesla'S "Bullying"

In April 27th, the new car force Xiaopeng car launched its two mass production vehicle Xiaopeng P7, the new direct competitor is Tesla Model 3.

On the same day, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng automobile, did not evade the performance and configuration of Xiaopeng P7 by comparing it with Model 3.

China's new car makers known as Tesla disciples have always regarded Tesla as the object of learning and catching up. In recent years, these young enterprises have recruits from other enterprises in varying degrees in order to catch up with the progress of research and development and launch new products. Among them, there are many Tesla employees.

Previously, a commercial theft case involving Tesla and Xiaopeng car caused by employee job hopping aroused the concern of the industry.

The investigation of the case has lasted for more than a year. In April, 25 media reported that Tesla's lawsuit against Xiaopeng car was escalating, requiring the X Motors of the US auto driving Department of Xiaopeng automobile to disclose the complete source code database of the autopilot system from November 2018 to now, as well as the hard disk data such as He Xiaopeng. The survey covered more than 30 items.

In response, Xiaopeng automobile issued a "solemn statement" to respond to it, and rebuked it for being "bullied" by Tesla.

"In the past year, Xiaopeng car has not concealed anything, and has been working hard to assist in the investigation. But so far, there is no evidence that Xiaopeng car has abused commercial secrets or other misconduct. " Xiaopeng automobile emphasizes, "since the lawsuit has lasted for a year, all attempts by Tesla have shown a clear act of bullying against a young competitor rather than trying to solve the legal case against Dr Cao."

At present, Tesla side has not explained the relevant response of Xiaopeng car.

Xiaopeng automobile believes that many investigations by Tesla are unreasonable. -IC photo

Tesla's "bullying"

The dispute between the two sides should be traced back to a year ago. In March 21, 2019, Tesla filed a lawsuit against its former employee Cao Guangzhi in the United States to steal corporate autopilot business secrets and provide it to Xiaopeng car. Cao Guangzhi previously worked as a visual scientist for Autopilot in Tesla. He joined Xiaopeng car in January 2019 and served as the person in charge of perception.

After Tesla launched the lawsuit, Xiaopeng automobile issued a statement saying that before and after the operation of Cao Guang, Xiaopeng car did not find any possible violation of the rules claimed by Tesla, and said it would initiate further investigations into the matter.

According to Tesla's accusation, Cao Guangzhi used his personal iCloud account in November 2018 to create a backup copy of Tesla's top secret information to back up the entire repository, Ap and neural network source code repository, including more than 300 thousand separate files and directories. And between December 26, 2018 and January 3, 2019, Tesla's work computer was disconnected from its iCloud account and entered the Tesla security network to delete its browsing history and more than 120 thousand documents.

Xiaopeng automobile side said that over the past year, the company has repeatedly and extensively observed the reasonable forensics requirements of Tesla, but found that Tesla seems to be more interested in using this lawsuit to disrupt the operation of Xiaopeng instead of limiting its scope to the actual claim for Cao Guangzhi.

It is understood that in June 2019, Xiaopeng car provided forensic images, e-mail and other documents to Cao Guangzhi's laptop. Since June 7, 2019, Tesla and its forensic investigation providers have been holding Cao Guangzhi's hard disk for review.

It is worth noting that in July 2019, Cao Guangzhi acknowledged part of the allegations of Tesla, that is, uploaded to the personal iCloud account contains automatic driving source code documents. However, he denied the accusation of stealing technical secrets, claiming that he did not bring any business secrets related to Tesla's autopilot to Xiaopeng car, nor did he use these data to seek benefits for his new employer.

Xiaopeng automobile related people told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter that Tesla had requested the Xiaopeng car two times in November 2019 and January 2020 to provide more information to support the relevant investigation.

Xiaopeng motor emphasizes that it is not the Party of the case, but has provided substantial assistance to the case, and has offered an electronic backup of Cao Guang's working computer. Under the premise of no obligation, Xiaopeng car allows Tesla to contact the company's source code repository as of March 21, 2019 (the date of Cao Guangzhi's prosecution) in order to obtain evidence under the court's protection order.

However, in January 17, 2020, the summons from Tesla made Xiaopeng car angry and refused to cooperate. Tesla asked Xiaopeng car to disclose nearly 30 items of content required to investigate, including Cao Guangzhi and Xiaopeng automobile since November 1, 2018, all the related source code of automatic driving, Xiaopeng automobile chairman He Xiaopeng, President Gu Hongdi and other high-level Cao Guangzhi, all the upper and lower levels of staff working computer forensics survey electronic version, and Cao Guangzhi work related personnel ditch. Pass records, XMotors's employee list, etc.

In twenty-first Century, the economic news reporter was informed that Xiaopeng motor filed a written objection to the court in March 6th this year against the summons of Tesla.

Xiaopeng automobile believes that many investigations by Tesla are unreasonable. "Resolutely defusing the law, and denying the unreasonable demands of Tesla, such as requiring all the source code of Xiaopeng car to be provided," In the latest statement, Xiaopeng motor stressed that in the past year, it had not concealed anything and tried to assist in the investigation. However, so far, there is no data showing that Xiaopeng car has abused commercial secrets or other misconduct.

The hearing of the case is scheduled to take place in San Francisco, USA in May 7th, when the court will give a reply to whether Xiaopeng automobile needs to continue to cooperate with the investigation.

Tesla crackdown on competitors?

Young Chinese car makers are always developing new technologies for electric vehicles, automatic driving and vehicle networking. In order to speed up the development of technology, we must vigorously introduce talents from other enterprises. However, it is worth noting that business secret disputes caused by the flow of high-end talent are not uncommon.

In April 27th, Shao Dandan, an intellectual property lawyer of Bon Tang Bang (Beijing) Intellectual Property Service Co., Ltd., interviewed by an economic reporter in twenty-first Century, said that the key to the case was whether Cao Guangzhi had stolen commercial secrets and applied to Xiaopeng motor vehicle, thereby causing losses to the original unit.

Generally speaking, disputes involving commercial secrets are long in litigation period and difficult to prove, and the parties will exhaust their rights in the process of litigation. This is also the reason why Tesla asked to upgrade the investigation content after more than a year after the case was accepted.

"From the public information, Tesla's latest request for information disclosure and investigation is excessive." Shao Dandan said.

She further explained that the information of the investigation should be related to the case itself and not beyond the scope of investigation. From a legal point of view, any country's laws are to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties. At the same time, it can not damage the legitimate rights and interests of the other party because it protects the legitimate rights and interests of one party. Tesla asked for the content of the investigation, as well as the commercial secrets of Xiaopeng automobile. Nor can Xiaopeng car damage its interests by coordinating Tesla.

Of course, whether or not Xiaopeng automobile needs to continue to provide more information for further investigation will need to be based on the laws of the United States and the outcome of hearings.

"In this case, it is important to note that in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, we must apply for patents in a timely manner and protect them in order to avoid unnecessary disputes while acquiring new R & D results. The flow of talents among enterprises is a normal phenomenon, but both sides must make the necessary Prudential obligations to avoid unnecessary disputes, so that they do not affect normal production and operation. Shao Dandan said.

As a matter of fact, there are already a lot of new car drivers, who are in a business dispute because of their job hopping. "The automobile industry often draws on and studies other enterprises' experience or technology. Some people will use some of their original ideas more or less after their past." A car owner said.

In Xiaopeng P7's new car conference, He Xiaopeng stressed that Xiaopeng automobile has always insisted on independent research and development, and stressed that this is its own core competitiveness.

From software to algorithm, from data to operation, from customized OS to electronic design, Xiaopeng automobile is doing it by itself. Only by fully researching and completing all the spare parts can we make the automatic driving solution applicable to China and the world in the future. This is the core competitiveness of Xiaopeng automobile. He Xiaopeng said.

Xiaopeng automobile said that Tesla's accusation will not slow down the development of independent research and development. Xiaopeng motor will continue to promote the popularization and evolution of smart cars under the combination of professional and technical personnel in many fields.