Tesla sues Fisker, alleges theft of trade secrets - AutoWeek Magazine

Henrik Fisker, shown with the Karma hybrid sedan.
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By GREG MIGLIORE

Electric carmaker Tesla Motors is suing Fisker Automotive and two of its executives, alleging they stole Tesla's hybrid technology and are using it to bring their own hybrid car to market.

Tesla paid Henrik Fisker and his design unit, Fisker Coachbuild LLC, about $800,000 to perform body and interior styling work for its WhiteStar hybrid sedan, which is expected to launch in 2010. During the year-long process, Tesla says it gave Fisker access to its proprietary information about the car and technology.

At the same time, Tesla alleges, Fisker was working on a hybrid sedan, the Karma, which was announced in January at the Detroit auto show.

"If he (Fisker) had disclosed that, they never would have hired him," said Adam Belsky, a Tesla attorney.

Glenn Lehrman, a spokesman for Fisker, declined to comment on the suit, saying the company is consulting with its attorneys.

Tesla says the WhiteStar and Karma are similar; Tesla and alleges Fisker used its access to Tesla's technology to speed the Karma's development.

In a lawsuit filed April 14 in California, Tesla asked for an injunction to prevent Fisker from using Tesla technology on the Karma. The suit names Henrik Fisker, his company, his design company and another executive, Bernhard Koehler, as defendants. Fisker has not yet filed a response.

Tesla's suit also says the work performed on the WhiteStar was substandard, and alleges Fisker diverted its best ideas to the Karma. The WhiteStar was expected to carry a Fisker badge.

The contract had a non-exclusivity clause, which allowed Fisker to perform styling and design services for other companies. Henrik Fisker is a former Aston Martin designer who started his own company in 2005 to specialty BMW and Mercedes cars.

In April, Tesla began production of its first electric car, the Roadster. Fisker's Karma is a plug-in hybrid that uses lithium-ion batteries, and was developed with Fisker's partner, Quantum Technologies.

 

Interesting...i wonder what'll happen. My uncle already has a deposit down on the Fisker...

 

Yeah, I am quite interested to see how this plays out. I wrote papers incorporating both companies this term at college, and clearly had no idea this was going on.

Personally, I think that the Fisker holds more promise in terms of capturing a market.

 

Eh, don't like his MLE articles that much anyways