Google Has No 'Smoking Gun' In Waymo-Uber Trade Secrets Case, Judge Says
U.S. District Judge William Alsup seemed unpersuaded after hours of argument Wednesday that Google had presented enough evidence to justify sweeping restrictions on Uber's autonomous vehicle development.
May 03, 2017 at 04:24 PM
5 minute read
SAN FRANCISCO — The federal judge presiding over the driverless car spat between Google Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. seemed unpersuaded after hours of argument Wednesday that Google has dug up enough evidence to justify sweeping restrictions on Uber's autonomous vehicle development.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California laid out what he said were two possible scenarios given the record in the trade secrets case brought by Waymo, Google's driverless car unit. One is that former top Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski “purloined” the 14,000 files he is alleged to have taken, with Uber knowing full well that he did so, and intended to use them to jump-start Uber's program, the judge said.
The other possibility, Alsup said, is that Uber knew Levandowski was “radioactive” and took steps before acquiring his company, Otto, to ensure that it never saw or used the allegedly stolen materials in any way.
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