According to several sources, GE has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Virginia against Siemens Energy for stealing trade secrets for gas turbines and using them to win at least nine gas turbine contracts worth billions of dollars.
GE alleges the theft traces back to May 2019, when the companies bid to provide gas turbine equipment and servicing to Virginia power utility Dominion Energy, stated Seeking Alpha. GE says Siemens Energy used trade secrets improperly received from a Dominion employee in part to win contracts that would raise the price of its IPO in September.
The alleged theft has supposedly put GE at a disadvantage competing for upcoming contracts worth at least $120M each. Siemens has won eight other gas turbine bids over GE’s competing proposals valued at more than $1B, the lawsuit claims.
“Siemens Energy’s integrity is foundational to our operating principles and will not be compromised under any circumstances,” said a Siemens spokesperson, as reported by Bloomberg.
“Siemens identified the receipt of GE’s trade secrets ‘through its own robust compliance processes.’ Following an internal investigation, Siemens ‘implemented extensive remedial measures in response,’ the spokesman added, such as ‘swift and appropriate discipline of the involved employees, including separation from the company.’ This was reported by Reuters.
Siemens Energy said it learned of the lawsuit through news reports. It involved a third party in an internal probe, disclosed the findings to its customer and competitors, and said it “implemented extensive remedial measures in response” to the investigation.
GE declined to comment further on the lawsuit, other than: “We aggressively protect and defend our intellectual property.”
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