In May 2022, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple is Suing Rivos, a RISC V startup, for Violation of the Trade Secrets Act due to Former Engineers Stealing Sensitive Chip Technology+." The report noted that Apple had sued a RISC V startup by the name of Rivos Inc. that is based in Santa Clara California and Austin Texas for (1) Breach of Contract, and (2) Violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act. Apple's California filing stated that Apple brought this "action to prevent Rivos and its employees from exploiting Apple’s most valuable trade secrets to compete with Apple unlawfully and unfairly." Later, Apple states that "Former Apple Employees Leaving for Rivos Retained Apple Confidential and Proprietary Trade Secrets After Accepting Offers from Rivos."

In Mid-August 2023, we posted a follow-up report titled " A U.S. Judge ruled that Apple can move forward with its lawsuit against Rivos for stealing trade secrets that could cause them sufficient harm."

This past Friday, Chip startup Rivos filed a countersuit against Apple Inc., claiming that the tech giant forces employees to sign restrictive agreements that prevent them from working elsewhere and stifle up-and-coming companies that hire its staff.

The countersuit filed Friday by Rivos and six ex-Apple employees in a San Jose federal court escalates an acrimonious trade secret feud that began when Apple last year sued Rivos and former employees who joined the startup. Rivos is pushing back by asking the court to rule that Apple’s “overbroad” non-disclosure and non-solicit agreements are unenforceable.

“Afraid of any threat of legitimate competition in the marketplace, and hoping to frighten and send a message to any employees who might dare to leave Apple to work somewhere else, Apple has resorted to trying to thwart emerging startups through anti-competitive measures, including illegally restricting employee mobility,” Rivos said in its countersuit. Source (covering a Bloomberg report).   

The key part of Apple's lawsuit was that Rivos was using stolen Apple trade secrets obtained from ex-Apple employees now with Rivos.