Tesla sues EV-battery-supplier Matthews over alleged disclosure of trade secrets

Tesla has sued electric-vehicle-battery-supplier Matthews International for allegedly disclosing its confidential trade secrets to other companies, including competitors.

According to the lawsuit, filed on Friday in the Northern District of California, Matthews breached its contract and allegedly improperly filed patent applications incorporating Tesla’s trade secrets without the electric-vehicle maker’s consent.

The Texas-based company said that, unless Matthews is enjoined from continuing its allegedly unlawful actions, Tesla would suffer immediate and irreparable harm after suffering monetary damages of over $75,000 that would likely exceed $1 billion.

Tesla requests an order requiring Matthews to pay Tesla its damages, costs, expenses, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest for Matthews’s improper acts.

“Since discovering Matthews’ improper conduct, Tesla has been working to block and/or delay publication of affected applications, and only a subset of Tesla’s confidential information regarding dry-electrode manufacturing has published thus far,” the lawsuit said.

In 2019, Tesla selected Matthews to be one of its suppliers for equipment that it used to refine its dry-electrode-battery manufacturing and to put it into mass production.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com