Tesla has filed a lawsuit in California federal court against a former employee and his robotics startup, Proception, accusing them of misappropriating trade secrets related to the company’s humanoid robot project, Optimus.
In a complaint submitted Wednesday to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Tesla alleged that former engineer Jay Li took confidential files detailing the development of Optimus’ robotic hand systems before resigning from the company. Li later founded Proception, which Tesla claims used the stolen data to accelerate its own product development.
“Through Li’s pilfering, Defendant Proception purportedly achieved in a matter of months what it has taken Tesla over four years, hundreds of employees, and billions of dollars to achieve,” the company wrote in the court filing.
Tesla said it has invested substantial resources into developing Optimus, a humanoid robot powered by artificial intelligence. The automaker claims that Li, who worked on Optimus’ sensor team between 2022 and 2024, downloaded proprietary research documents after his assignment on the robot hand project had ended.
According to the complaint, Li incorporated Proception six days after leaving Tesla, and within five months the startup publicly showcased robotic hand technology that bore “striking similarities” to Tesla’s.
Tesla is seeking monetary damages and a court injunction to prevent Li and Proception from using or disclosing any of its trade secrets. Neither Tesla nor representatives for Proception responded to requests for comment on Thursday.
The case is Tesla Inc v. Proception Inc, No. 5:25-cv-04963, filed in the Northern District of California.