Samsara-Motive Trade Secrets Litigation Enters New Phase

Samsara has alleged patent infringement by Motive in an ITC complaint and a federal lawsuit, both filed earlier this year. (Transport Topics)

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The ongoing legal battle between rival trucking technology vendors Samsara and Motive over allegations of intellectual property theft has entered a new phase after a government attorney’s preliminary findings became public and Samsara filed additional litigation.

In a pre-hearing briefing published Nov. 12, a staff attorney participating in a U.S. International Trade Commission investigation outlined her view that the evidence does not prove that Motive’s products infringe on three Samsara patents. Samsara has alleged patent infringement by Motive in an ITC complaint and a federal lawsuit, both filed earlier this year.

She noted, however, that live testimony at an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Nov. 14-20 could affect the staff’s analysis.

Motive hailed the staff attorney’s conclusions as affirmation that Samsara’s claims lack merit.

“This confirms what we have known all along. Samsara’s legal case was not about protecting IP; it was an attempt to limit competition and prevent customers from accessing the best technology,” Motive said in a statement to Transport Topics.

Samsara, however, emphasized that the pre-hearing brief is preliminary, and the judge overseeing the case has not yet ruled on the merits of its claims.

“We remain confident that the evidence presented at the hearing will expose Motive’s pattern of infringement and systematic copying,” a company spokesman said. “We anticipate that the judge will issue an initial determination on all claims by March 2025.”

Meanwhile, Samsara on Nov. 12 filed a separate trade secrets lawsuit against Motive in California Superior Court for the County of San Francisco. The new lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Motive has hired former Samsara employees specifically to pressure them for confidential insights into the company’s business strategies and product plans.

“Samsara’s new lawsuit seeks to stop Motive’s calculated campaign — personally driven by Motive’s CEO and founder, Shoaib Makani — to steal and exploit our trade secrets to avoid the significant investments needed to independently develop its own business,” Samsara said in a statement. “Samsara embraces fair competition, but we believe Motive’s actions are anything but fair. We are committed to defending our company’s innovation and the hard work of our dedicated employees.”

Motive said Samsara’s legal action reflects “a losing strategy focused more on litigation than innovation.”

“Samsara’s latest lawsuit is yet another attempt to distract from the fact that Motive delivers superior AI technology and value to customers,” Motive said in a statement.

Samsara and Motive are both providers of in-cab technology for fleet operators. Their product offerings include vehicle telematics, fleet management applications and video-based safety features enabled by vehicle gateway devices and dashboard cameras.

Both companies have been growing their customer bases in a technology market segment that has seen significant disruption during the past decade because of the federal electronic logging device mandate and advances in mobile technology.