Uber denies theft of trade secrets
The lawsuit over self-driving car technology involving Uber and Alphabet — Google’s parent firm — has taken a strange turn.
Uber now says that nobody at the ride-hailing company knew about an employee’s alleged theft of intellectual property from Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car department, before Waymo sued Uber over the issue. That contradicts accusations by Alphabet that Uber “took part in a coverup.”
In a court filing Wednesday, Uber said that the lawsuit by Waymo was the first that executives learned of the reported misconduct by Anthony Levandowski, a former Alphabet engineer. Levandowski later went to work for Uber — but not before allegedly downloading thousands of trade secrets pertaining to Waymo’s selfdriving cars.
“Waymo’s allegations in this lawsuit, and subsequent presentation of evidence of Levandowski’s downloading, was the first time that anyone at Uber learned that Levandowski may have engaged in improper downloading and theft of Google information as alleged by Waymo,” according to Uber’s filing.
The lawsuit holds enormous stakes for both companies as they battle against each other and firms such as Apple, Tesla and Ford for dominance over the future of transportation.
Both sides are homing in on what transpired in key conversations between Levandowski and senior Uber officials last spring.
At the time, Levandowski had not yet joined Uber but had left Waymo and was leading an autonomous trucking firm, Otto, which Uber soon would acquire.
Levandowski approached Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and several other executives to say he had five discs of Waymo information in his home. Kalanick instructed Levandowski not to bring the discs to Uber, court documents say. But the interaction, according to Waymo, is enough to show Uber’s awareness of Levandowski’s alleged theft.
The judge in the case, William Alsup, has disagreed with that argument, saying there isn’t enough evidence to prove that. Uber’s filing this week appears to uphold that reading: If it’s accurate, it suggests that Kalanick may well have known about the existence of the discs but not how they came into Levandowski’s possession. Uber fired Levandowski in May.
Uber said Thursday that it has become increasingly clear that the downloading of Waymo’s information had “nothing to do” with Uber.
“This is the best indication yet that Waymo over-promised and can’t deliver,” Uber said, referring to Waymo’s allegations of a coverup.