Screenshot of APIUM Swarm Robotics' website.

Los Angeles County robotics company Apium sued a maritime vehicles manufacturer for breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation in federal court Wednesday.

Apium partnered with Aquabotix Technology Corp. in the competitive and fast-moving artificial intelligence space to develop robots that could swarm in the ocean, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Apium owns patents for a swarm autopilot and water drone, and in 2018 agreed to license some of its intellectual property to Aquabotix to bring the swarming ocean robots to the market, according to the filing signed by Venable's Thomas Wallerstein in San Francisco.

Almost immediately after signing the contract, Apium contends it had "no choice" but to terminate the agreement after discovering Aquabotix would no longer pay its share of royalties as a result of "fatal engineering and management shortcomings with limited prospective customer contacts."

The devices could be used to dispose of naval mines and replace human divers in data collection activities. Despite selling the vehicles to the U.S. Navy for $30,500; other U.S. armed forces for $150,000; and a military agency of a major Asian country for $350,000, Aquabotix has said the sales are exempt from royalties because they are for "testing," the complaint alleges.

"Aquabotix has refused and implicitly has confirmed that it intends to continue to withhold royalties for any future sales which it chooses to characterize as supporting test and evaluation activities for future sales," Apium's lawyers wrote.

In addition to its claims of breach of contract and violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, Apium is asking the court for a declaratory judgment that it did not breach the agreement, as Aquabotix has alleged on a handful of occasions.

Apium contends the allegations related to 2017 projects with the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Electric Power Research Institute are unfounded, because they predate the agreement.

The complaint also asserts that Aquabotix continues to access and use Apium's trade secrets, including compiled swarm source code, software for swarm behaviors and design, and manufacturing information.

"As a direct and proximate cause of Aquabotix's breaches, Apium has suffered economic losses and general, specific, direct, indirect and consequential damages in an amount to be determined at trial," Apium alleges.

Apium's legal team, which also includes Christopher Waldon and Whitney Tolar of Venable, did not respond to a request for comment late Wednesday afternoon. Apium and Aquabotix also did not respond to media inquiries.