Karma Sends DeLorean to Court
This page is translated from the original post "Karma envoie DeLorean au tribunal" in French.
- 19/08/2022 9:30
According to Karma, there is an intellectual property theft behind the new DeLorean Alpha5.
A few weeks after unveiling a completely new electric vehicle, DeLorean is already at the center of controversy. Indeed, the company faces a lawsuit filed by the American manufacturer Karma Automotive, which is now part of the Chinese group Wanxiang. The reason for the dispute? A potential theft of intellectual property, allegedly orchestrated by four members of DeLorean.
Joost de Vries, the CEO of DeLorean, is himself implicated in this case. The three other individuals named in the complaint are Alan Yuan (Chief Operating Officer), Troy Beetz (Marketing Director), and Neilo Harris (Vice President of DeLorean). All of them have previously worked at Karma, during the time when the manufacturer was in talks with the DeLorean Motor Company. This company, owned by Stephen Wynne, bought the name of the famous American brand in the 1990s. It still exists today and focuses on restoring the DMC-12. With this, Karma was planning to launch a series of electric DMC-12 conversions. While playing an important role in this project and still being employed by Karma, Vries and his colleagues would have ultimately decided to exploit the opportunity themselves by quietly creating the entity DeLorean Motors Reimagined. Some time later, this entity unveiled the Alpha 5, an electric car presented as the distant heir of the DMC-12.
DeLorean Denies Innocence
Joost de Vries and the three other individuals involved are accused of using data belonging to their former employer to carry out their project. They are also alleged to have relied on Karma’s work to attract investors willing to inject money into their new brand.
Joost de Vries strongly denies Karma’s accusations. According to him, no external data was used to create the Alpha 5. DeLorean Motor Reimagined also managed on its own to find suppliers and organize the production of the car.
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