Alphabet's Waymo sues Uber, alleging theft of self-driving car secrets

[FrodosNewPet]

Source: Detroit Free Press

AN FRANCISCO — In charges that could delay Uber's chances of delivering the first commercial self-driving trucks, Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car company Waymo has filed suit against the company for trade secret misappropriation, patent infringement and unfair competition.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Last year, Uber bought self-driving truck company Otto for $670 million.

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That is the heart of the suit. Waymo alleges that in December of 2016 former Waymo self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski stole 14,000 files containing plans and technical specifications, then left the company a month later.

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According to the suit, on Jan. 14, four weeks after stealing the files, Levandowski attended meetings with high-level executives at Uber's San Francisco headquarters.

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Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/tech/news/2017/02/23/alphabets-waymo-sues-uber-alleging-theft-self-driving-car-secrets/98323960/

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Ayn Rand fan Travis Kalanick seems to believe the rules for mere mortals do not apply to him. The ends justify the means.

[FrodosNewPet]

1. It's been a rough week for Uber

As far as that goes, 2017 is one headache after another for the poor Randian.

Between scabbing the JFK strike, joining and then quitting DJT's "Strategic and Policy Forum" (ultimately pissing off both liberals and conservatives), Susan Fowler's allegations of sexual harassment, and now this lawsuit, I can imagine Travis is ready to eat Xanax like M&Ms.


https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/30/deleteuber-how-social-media-turned-on-uber
https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber