The DeLorean has encountered its first roadblock on its way back to the future and electrification.
Luxury electric car developer Karma Automotive has recently filed a lawsuit against Texas-based DeLorean Motors Reimagined for allegedly stealing intellectual property.
The DeLorean Motors Reimagined company is a resurrected form of the DeLorean Motor Company founded by John Z. DeLorean in the mid-1970s, per OCRegister.
Karma Automotive-DeLorean Motors Reimagined Lawsuit Details
Karma Automotive was recently reported to have sued DeLorean Motors Reimagined for allegedly stealing intellectual property. According to The Verge’s report, Karma is alleging that DeLorean stole its trade secrets to bring DeLorean Motors Reimagined to life.
The stolen trade secrets, which were used to establish the company, are allegedly gathered from four of Karma’s former employees.
These employees, which are currently high-ranked officials of DeLorean, were working on a potential DMC-12 electro mod project during their time in the company, per Carscoops.
Karma even named these employees in its lawsuit, which are: Joost de Vries, Alan Yuan, Troy Beetz, and Neilo Harris.
De Vries is currently the CEO of DeLorean Motors Reimagined while Yuan is working as DeLorean’s COO. Meanwhile, Beetz works for DeLorean as Chief Marketing Officer, while Harris acts as the company’s vice president.
The company has also gone one step further, claiming that DeLorean Motors Reimagined wouldn’t exist at all if the joint venture between the two companies became successful.
The joint venture in question is the “Project 88,” an electrified version of the DeLorean DMC-12 that features Karma’s EV architecture.
For those wondering, the DMC-12 is the actual name of the DeLorean car used in the “Back to the Future” movies.
However, the joint venture went short when the four employees “actively concealed information” and took “confidential Karma information, materials, and templates, to usurp Karma’s “corporate opportunity” for themselves.
As such, Karma has no choice but to accuse its four former employees of “breaching their contractual obligations,” “consummating a deal with DMC,” and “tortiously interfering with Karma’s prospective business relations.”
Karma’s lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Aug. 8.
De Vries’ Response To The Lawsuit
De Vries reportedly denied Karma’s allegations in his statement to the San Antonio Express-News, per Maxim.
“This car has a very specific, unique DeLorean lineage that has no relation to Karma Automotive from a design, engineering, supply chain, or manufacturing perspective,” de Vries said. “We remain committed to the future of our company.”
Automotive News also managed to obtain a statement from de Vries saying that “Project 88” died due to Karma’s inability to fund or produce deliverables necessary to move forward with talks with DeLorean.
“DeLoean Motors Reimagined is a completely new entity with a completely new fully electric vehicle unrelated to the low volume replica project,” de Vries added. “We anticipate the Court seeing through this baseless litigation in short order.”
Keyword: Karma Automotive's Lawsuit Against DeLorean Motors Reimagined: Here's What You Should Know