21 September 2017, India:
Alphabet Inc’s Waymo is seeking around $2.6 billion from Uber for the alleged theft of one of several trade secrets in a lawsuit over self-driving cars, as per the report by Reuters.
The massive damage payout was apparently what Waymo was demanding for just one of the trade secrets it will be taking to trial. At present, the company is planning to present nine different trade secrets that Uber allegedly stole and used to the jury.
The case centers around former Google employee Anthony Levandowski who left the company to start a self-driving truck business, Otto, which was later purchased by Uber. Waymo claims that over 14,000 proprietary design files were downloaded by Levandowski six weeks before he left Google — information that Uber then used in the development of its LiDAR circuit board. Uber has maintained that it had nothing to do with Levandowski’s actions and that none of the stolen files made their way over to Uber.
Uber subsequently said it doesn’t use the technology in question. But that defense hasn’t helped much as per the report by The Register. In May, the US federal judge overseeing the case ordered Uber to take the necessary steps to ensure that its employees return stolen files to Waymo and barred Levandowski from working on LiDAR or related projects at Uber. (Image- Business Insider)
