Palantir has initiated legal action against two former employees, Radha Jain and Joanna Cohen, claiming they created a competitive “copycat” firm in violation of their contractual agreements. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in the Southern District of New York, targets the defendants and their new venture, Percepta, a business that is financially supported by the prominent venture capital firm, General Catalyst. The core of Palantir’s complaint centers on the assertion that Jain and Cohen leveraged proprietary information to rapidly establish an imitation business, gaining an unfair advantage.
The suit asserts that the former staff members had unparalleled access to some of the company’s most sensitive, guarded assets, which Palantir metaphorically refers to as its “crown jewels.” These highly restricted materials included its core source code, internal workspace structure, and deeply specific customer workflows. Palantir emphasizes that all of these valuable assets were secured by robust non-compete and confidentiality agreements, which the employees knowingly signed as a condition of their employment.
In addition to alleging the misuse of overall company secrets, Palantir specifically claims that Joanna Cohen engaged in outright theft prior to her departure. The company states that Cohen stole a collection of highly confidential documents which have since been used to expedite and refine the development of Percepta’s platform. This alleged deliberate act of document exfiltration forms a significant part of the evidence Palantir is presenting to demonstrate the former employees’ calculated intent to harm their previous employer.
The complaint includes a strong statement from Palantir, directly accusing the defendants of malicious intent and execution. According to the company, “Jain and Cohen weaponized their insider knowledge to harm Palantir by passing off Palantir’s efforts as their own.” This line of argument suggests that Percepta is not a separate, organic competitor, but rather a deceptive effort to repackage Palantir’s intellectual property and established work as an independent creation.
Ultimately, Palantir is seeking a judgment that will protect its considerable investment in its proprietary technology. The company maintains that the alleged theft of its AI secrets and subsequent use of its most critical data by the former employees—who had access to the inner workings of its technology—represents a profound threat to its competitive edge and market position. The lawsuit seeks to halt the operations of the “copycat” startup and secure damages for the harm caused by the alleged breaches of contract and confidentiality.
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