Uber’s Levandowski fights full disclosure over Waymo secrets

UBER Technologies’ robocar project director wants his company to be spared from having to turn over certain documents in Waymo’s tradesecrets theft suit, saying he’s vulnerable to criminal prosecution.

Engineer Anthony Levandowski, who’s asserting his constitutional right against self-incrimination, asked a San Francisco federal judge last Thursday to scale back an order requiring the ride-hailing giant to disclose thousands of records relating to driverless technology.

Waymo has argued that Uber is stone-walling on its obligation to turn over files and documents that the Alphabet unit says were stolen by Levandowski when he left Waymo last year and launched his self- driving startup Otto, which was acquired by Uber for US$ 680 million ( RM3 billion).

US District Judge William Alsup has to weigh Levandowski’s right to protect himself from possible criminal prosecution against Waymo’s contention that it will suffer greatly if Uber’s use of its proprietary information isn’t halted promptly.

When Levandowski’s lawyer said at a hearing Thursday that Waymo is trying to get ahold of records about Uber’s acquisition of Otto that are protected by a confidentiality pact, the judge questioned the need for such an agreement.

“At the time this acquisition was being negotiated, your client and Uber were fearful that litigation like this would arise? But why?” Alsup said. “It was a legitimate deal, why would they have anything to fear?”

The attorney, Ismail Ramsey, told the judge the agreement between Otto and Uber to share information privately was meant to safeguard the companies from possible litigation around “various issues that arise when an employee moves from one company to another.”

The judge directed Ramsey to provide him after the hearing with a description of the documents Levandowski doesn’t want revealed, and to give a redacted version to Waymo. — WP-Bloomberg