Judge dismisses intellectual-property suit against San Antonio’s DeLorean Motors

Last August, electric-vehicle maker Karma Automotive sued DeLorean CEO Joost de Vries and three other execs at the startup car company, claiming they stole trade secrets. The suit alleged the four — all of whom previously worked at California-based Karma — stole trade secrets and used them to establish DeLorean.

DeLorean is working to bring back the ’80s sports car featured in the Back to the Future movies as a an electric vehicle.

On Sept. 8, Judge Keith Ellison approved a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, meaning the suit can’t be refiled, according to the Express-News. De Vries told the paper that his company and Karma reached an out-of-court agreement.

In 2022, scant months before the filing of the intellectual-property suit, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County approved more than $1 million in grants and tax subsidies to entice DeLorean to set up shop in the Alamo City.

DeLorean execs told local officials they plans to create 450 jobs at the company’s new Port San Antonio headquarters.

Earlier this year, the startup cut the number of reservation spots for its Alpha 5 model from 9,251 to 4,000, citing supply chain bottlenecks, Barron’s reports. The company has said it expects to deliver its first models sometime in 2025 to customers who made a $3,500 deposit.

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This article appears in Sep 6-19, 2023.