Apple to settle trade secrets lawsuit against chip startup Rivos

Apple plans to settle a lawsuit that accused tech startup Rivos of stealing its trade secrets related to computer-chip technology, according to a joint court filing on Friday in California federal court.

Updated - February 10, 2024 11:14 am IST

Apple plans to settle a lawsuit that accused tech startup Rivos of stealing its trade secrets related to computer-chip technology.

Apple plans to settle a lawsuit that accused tech startup Rivos of stealing its trade secrets related to computer-chip technology. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Apple plans to settle a lawsuit that accused tech startup Rivos of stealing its trade secrets related to computer-chip technology, according to a joint court filing on Friday in California federal court.

The companies told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that they had "signed an agreement that potentially settles the case," and that the agreement allows Apple to examine Rivos' systems and recover any confidential information.

Representatives for Apple and Rivos did not immediately respond to requests for comment and more information about the settlement.

Apple sued "stealth" startup Rivos in 2022. It said Mountain View, California-based Rivos had hired away dozens of its engineers and used its confidential information to develop competing "system-on-chip" (SoC) technology.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)

SoCs are integrated circuits with several computer components in a single chip, including central processing units and graphic processing units. Apple said in the lawsuit that it spent billions of dollars and more than a decade of research on its SoC designs, and that they have "revolutionized the personal and mobile computing worlds."

Rivos denied the allegations and claimed that Apple had "sought to punish Rivos and any Apple employees who may seek to work there since the moment Apple learned about the promising startup." It countersued Apple last September for unfair competition.

Apple settled related claims in the case last month against six former employees who left the company to join Rivos.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.