Apple Advances With Chip-Tech Trade-Secrets Suit Against Startup

Apple Inc.’s suit alleging startup Rivos Inc. poached its engineers to steal trade secrets used to develop its homegrown chip designs can move forward, a federal judge in California ruled Friday.

US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose said Apple had “sufficiently identified” a trade secret and alleged “sufficient harm” by Rivos and three former employees. The judge rejected Rivos’s request to dismiss a Defend Trade Secrets act claim as well as a breach of contract claim against five former Apple employees.

The dispute revolves around “system-on-chip” technology that shrinks multiple computer elements into a small chip, which ...