Nutanix has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against database-as-a-service platform Tessell amid allegations that its founders covertly built competing products while still working at Nutanix.
The cloud computing giant filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Jose, which alleges that Tessell's founders illegally used confidential company information, as well as valuable resources, to launch the business.
Nutanix's filing alleged that Tessell founders Bala Kuchibhotla, Kamal Khanuja and Bakul Banthia covertly designed, built, showcased and secured funding for a future Tessell product while still at Nutanix.
Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that Tessell's founders used Nutanix's source code, servers, and other resources when creating the product, and that they brought the source code to Tessell after leaving Nutanix.
“KKB [Tessell’s founders] “Used Nutanix facilities, equipment, services, and even Nutanix Era source code when developing the Tessell product,” the document reads.
“KKB planned, developed, obtained seed funding, and demonstrated prototypes of the competitor's product, all using Nutanix computers and while employees of Nutanix. “One of the Tessell prototypes they demonstrated actually ran on Nutanix servers.”
The source code that was allegedly stolen by the group was for Nutanix's Era database management software package, now known as Nutanix Database Service (NDB).
The complaint also argues that the group attempted to remove all traces of Nutanix branding from Tessell's prototype and further cover its tracks by wiping down its company's devices.
“In planning its exits, KKB took all or a substantial portion of Era's source code, stored it on private accounts and devices, and Tessell then incorporated Era's source code into its product. KKB then wiped their laptops to cover their tracks, an effort that was initially successful.”
Nutanix highlighted “surprisingly similar features”
Nutanix claimed that the speed with which Tessell was able to launch its competing product, as well as a very similar feature set, was enough for the company to open an investigation into possible intellectual property infringements.
“However, when Tessell launched its product in late 2022, the speed with which it came to market with features strikingly similar to Era prompted Nutanix to begin a full-fledged forensic investigation. “As a result, Nutanix discovered the theft of proprietary code and technology described in this document.”
The complaint argued that Tessell's founders' access to Nutanix source code and resources meant they could launch their competing product just 18 months after its founding, with support for major databases such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MongoDB , MySQL and PostgreSQL.
“Tessell was able to launch a solid commercial product in a relatively short period of time because it was founded by a group of Nutanix engineers who were instrumental in developing the Era product and who had access to all the key technology and source code. embedded in Era.”
Nutanix said it is seeking the return of the stolen intellectual property, a court order to prevent further infringement, restitution and monetary damages from Tessell.
It also announced that it would initiate a separate arbitration proceeding against Tessell's founders for violating their employment agreements as Nutanix personnel.
ITPro has approached Nutanix and Tessell for comment
