Think of it as Waymo v. Uber, only nerdier.

Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based medical device maker Becton, Dickinson and Co. has sued rival Cytek Biosciences Inc. and a group of nine former BD employees who joined Cytek, alleging they stole trade secrets. According to the complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Cytek originally serviced BD flow cytometers—devices used to count certain types of cells. But after Cytek hired away a number of BD employees starting in 2015, the Fremont, California-based company launched its own flow cytometry devices.