
Uber: Discovery shows Waymo has “zero evidence” - nwrk
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/uber-discovery-shows-waymo-has-zero-evidence-plays-blame-game/
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hayd
How does that explain how Uber copied the Lidar chip design? Wasn't that the
original smoking gun which brought this all to light?

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pfarnsworth
> Alsup also called Waymo’s claim of patent infringement “meritless,” and
> noted, with regard to trade secrets, that Waymo has “overreached, in
> attempting to claim ownership over general principles and approaches in the
> field.”

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/15/15640934/uber-waymo-
lawsu...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/15/15640934/uber-waymo-lawsuit-self-
driving-car-injunction-ruling)

It seems clear that Levandowski did _something_ but Waymo hasn't found any
evidence that Uber did anything improper.

> By granting Waymo permission to seek the return of its stolen documents, the
> judge also agreed with the Alphabet company “that at least some information
> from those files, if not the files themselves, has seeped into Uber’s own
> LIDAR development efforts.” Even so, he did not see enough evidence to
> completely block Uber from operating its LIDAR-equipped vehicles in the
> public.

I don't know what he means by "at least some of the information", but it
wasn't enough to stop Uber from continuing, which is confusing to me.
Obviously the Judge didn't think whatever information that "seeped" into the
development was significant enough otherwise he would have stopped Uber from
continuing development.

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tzakrajs
Wait.. Levandowski took files from Google as leverage in case they didn't pay
him his bonus? What did he plan to do exactly? In what case does that ever
make sense? One can't assume any ownership of or rights to the files whether
or not Google pays them the bonus.

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dguaraglia
Yeah, the explanation doesn't make any sense. Even if he decided to release it
to the public, that IP wasn't his to distribute, so he'd get sued out of the
_obscene_ $50m he had already been paid. At this point, I can't find a single
course of action from Levandowski that would paint him in any good light at
all.

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clhodapp
This is so strongly stated that if it comes to light that Uber did use Waymo's
files at this point, they will have a very tough time weaselling out of it.
They'd better be telling the truth or what little credibility they still have
will go straight out the window.

