Three former Palantir Technologies (PLTR) employees say the company is trying to use the courts to squash their startup and deny poaching staff and intellectual property from it, Bloomberg News reported.
Palantir (PLTR), the data analytics company whose chairman is Peter Thiel, filed a revised lawsuit against the trio last month and asked a judge to bar Hirsh Jain from working at Percepta, which he co-founded, or for the AI startup’s venture capital backer, General Catalyst, for 12 months, the report added.
“In truth, Palantir is looking to scare others away from leaving and destroy Percepta before it can grow further,” lawyers for the startup said in the filing.
In October, Palantir filed a lawsuit against Percepta, claiming that its co-founders—Hirsh Jain and Radha Jain (unrelated)—misappropriated trade secrets and breached nonsolicitation agreements.
Palantir’s (PLTR) lawsuit is part of a growing wave of legal disputes in the AI sector over trade secrets and anti-competitive practices. Elon Musk’s xAI has sued former employees and rivals for alleged violations, while data-labeling startup Scale AI sued competitor Mercor and a former employee who joined Mercor for allegedly stealing trade secrets.