Executives of artificial intelligence startup Percepta AI, who were sued last year by Palantir for allegedly stealing confidential information and trying to poach top talent, called the claims an attempt to “stifle competition.”

“In truth, Palantir is looking to scare others away from leaving and to destroy Percepta before it can grow further,” lawyers for the defendants wrote in a filing this week, asking a judge to deny Palantir’s request.

The defendants also claim that post-employment agreements are “facially overbroad and unenforceable” and say Palantir’s interpretation is meant to “stifle competition.”

The lawsuit, originally filed by Palantir in October in the Southern District of New York, accused Percepta co-founder and CEO Hirsh Jain and co-founder Radha Jain of using stolen information to create a “copycat” business. Palantir also claimed the founders, who used to work for the data analytics company, attempted to poach talent and “plunder Palantir’s valuable intellectual property.”

Palantir accused a third Percepta employee, Joanna Cohen, of sending herself confidential documents after resigning and photographing sensitive information she downloaded to her personal phone.

Percepta in December denied using any of Palantir’s confidential information and called the case “baseless.”

Attorneys said in Monday’s filing that in-depth searches did not find any Palantir materials and argued that the screenshots taken by Cohen were done in “good faith” to help her complete tasks. They said the materials “would be useless to Percepta and are by now stale regardless.”

Palantir declined to comment.

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