Flexport and AI startup Freightmate settle trade secrets suit ahead of trial

What happened

(Unsplash Photo / Rinson Chory ) Freightmate AI has settled a trade secrets lawsuit filed by San Francisco-based freight forwarder Flexport on terms that will keep the Bellevue, Wash.-based logistics software startup’s products on the market. The case raised a question that could become more common as employees leave big companies to start AI ventures: whether everyday business documents count as valuable trade secrets when they can be fed into AI models.

Freightmate, an AI startup co-founded by two ex-Flexport employees, settled Flexport's trade secrets suit. The founders acknowledged acquiring about 2,000 confidential Flexport shipping documents and using some, but denied their product was built on them. The trade secrets case between Flexport and Freightmate centered on the use of shipping documents.