Ruling: Uber Must Return Stolen Files to Waymo

A federal judge ruled that Uber must return stolen confidential files to Waymo by the end of the month, reports Reuters. The move signals a major victory for Waymo, which claims that Uber stole its trade secrets related to self-driving cars.

According to U.S. District Judge William Alsup, Waymo showed “compelling evidence” that its former engineer, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded confidential documents from Waymo computers before leaving the company and eventually working for Uber. The judge argued that Uber either knew, or should have known, that Levandowki took potentially sensitive files and that some of the trade secrets were used for Uber’s own development efforts. Now, all Uber employees have been barred from using the downloaded materials, and Levandowski has been ordered to stop working on Lidar technology for Uber’s driverless cars.

Despite the ruling, the judge threw Uber a bone by saying that the company can continue its autonomous car program. The embattled company, which is banking on autonomous tech playing an important role in its ride-hailing fleet, has partnered with automakers including Volvo to test self-driving cars in cities across the country.

Uber also felt some relief when the judge shot down some of Waymo’s claims. Although Waymo alleged that 121 trade secrets were stolen, the judge ruled some of these didn’t qualify as trade secrets.

Now, Alsup has handed over the case to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is expected to conduct an investigation. Meanwhile, Uber has been ordered to provide Waymo with a comprehensive log showing every communication it had with Levandowski involving Lidar. The engineer left Waymo in early 2016 to start a self-driving truck company called Otto, which was later bought by Uber. He then ran Uber’s self-driving car division before leaving that post last month.

In another blow to Uber, Waymo and Lyft announced they will work together on self-driving technology. Although the companies didn’t reveal their exact plans, the collaboration will undoubtedly help accelerate the self-driving programs of both companies, putting them in a better position to compete with Uber.

Source: Reuters

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