The battle between two well-known trucking tech companies continues. ELD and telematics provider Samsara recently filed a lawsuit, followed by a complaint with the International Trade Commission, against fleet management provider Motive Technologies Inc.
Motive on Thursday reacted in kind, filing a suit of its own in the Northern District Court of California against Samsara alleging patent infringement.
“For years, Samsara has engaged in unlawful, anticompetitive business practices to copy Motive’s products and technology and to steal its intellectual property. Despite its efforts, Samsara has failed to develop competitive AI technology and has been losing customers, particularly large Enterprise accounts, to Motive,” Motive said in a news release. “Rather than develop better products, Samsara has resorted to waging a meritless legal battle and associated marketing campaign against Motive in an underhanded attempt to limit competition and stifle innovation.”
Motive’s suit alleges patent infringement, theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, fraud, false and deceptive advertising, defamation and intentional interference with prospective economic relations. Samsara’s lawsuit, filed Jan. 24, uses the same language, alleging that Motive has committed intellectual property theft and patent infringement in addition to false advertising and misleading marketing campaigns.
"Rather than stopping its unlawful conduct, Motive has decided to copy our claims. As demonstrated in our complaint, this is the same copycat tactic Motive uses for its product development. The allegations in Motive's suit are a deliberate distraction, and we have every confidence in our defense. We remain focused on putting an end to Motive's ongoing infringement and unlawful conduct to ensure fair competition, innovation, and safety for the entire industry," Samsara said in a statement to CCJ in response to Motive's filing.
Both lawsuits accuse the other party of accessing each other’s platforms to copy technology.
Read about Samsara’s lawsuit here.
Motive said in a release that it pioneered the first iPhone- and Android-based fleet management and electronic logging platform in 2013 and manufactured its first Vehicle Gateway in August 2015 before Samsara was founded (in 2015). Motive certified its ELD with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in July 2016, a year before Samsara certified its ELD with a driver app that was a copy of Motive’s, the company claims. Motive said it developed its AI dashcam with an Ambarella chip in collaboration with electronics manufacturer QSMC in 2019, and asserts that Samsara is directly copying Motive’s hardware design and supplier relationship in creating its AI dashcam.
Motive’s filing states that Samsara “poached” Motive’s vice president of hardware engineering and other engineering leaders as well as senior sales executives in 2019 to steal trade secrets and intellectual property related to Motive’s AI Dashcam and steal customers and other confidential information.
Both companies have created web pages with details of each lawsuit: Samsara vs. Motive.
Motive said it is seeking damages for patent infringement and the return of profits gained as a result of Samsara’s false advertising claims about the Samsara AI Dash Cam, as well as injunctive relief to protect its legitimate business interests, including its confidential, proprietary and trade secret information.
