A US judge has ordered three former Palantir Technologies employees to stop recruiting Palantir staff and using its confidential information for their artificial intelligence (AI) startup. The judge ruled that if this activity continues, Palantir would suffer Last month, US District Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled that Hirsh Jain, CEO of Percepta AI, and co-founder Radha Jain likely violated commitments not to try to hire employees away from their former employer. The judge also found that Joanna Cohen, a junior software engineer hired from Palantir, likely breached the company’s confidentiality obligations.
According to a Bloomberg report, the ruling was part of a 41-page opinion issued in February that was initially sealed while the parties redacted personal details, confidential business information, and customer data. At the time, the court released a one-page order summarising some findings without detailing the restrictions. Documents made public last week show that Oetken ordered the former employees to stop attempting to recruit Palantir staff and to stop using the company’s data.
What Palantir and Percepta AI said about the ruling
In a statement to Bloomberg, Palantir said,
Venture capital firm General Catalyst, which backs Percepta, also expressed support for the ruling. CEO Hirsh Jain said,
However, the judge did not stop the employees from continuing to work at Percepta. The judge ruled that Palantir’s non-compete clause was too broad to enforce against the three individuals.
During a hearing, when asked whether Radha Jain or Joanna Cohen could have taken any job at Percepta without violating the agreement, the judge noted that roles.
Co-founded by Peter Thiel, Palantir is known for developing data analysis software used by the US military and intelligence agencies, as well as providing similar tools to governments and commercial clients.
According to the ruling, Hirsh Jain later became Percepta’s chief executive after discussions in June 2024 with investors at General Catalyst, which was planning to launch a company focused on AI services for its portfolio firms and other customers.
Palantir filed the lawsuit last year, alleging that Hirsh Jain “began an aggressive campaign to recruit numerous Palantir employees” after leaving the company in August 2024. The company also sued Radha Jain and Joanna Cohen.
The judge’s ruling cited messages exchanged between the two. Hirsh Jain texted Radha Jain saying, for Percepta. In another exchange discussing a Palantir employee she described as Radha Jain said they
The judge also found that, before leaving Palantir, Cohen sent herself company documents via Slack and downloaded them to her personal phone, triggering an internal security alert. She also accessed the names and contact details of Palantir’s healthcare customers and reviewed confidential marketing, workflow, and sales intelligence information unrelated to her job responsibilities, the judge ruling said.
