Uber to seek arbitration in Waymo self-driving case
SAN FRANCISCO: A lawyer for Uber told a federal judge on Thursday he intended to file a petition to compel arbitration in the Waymo trade secrets theft case, citing an agreement signed by a former Waymo employee who is at the heart of the case.
Waymo, the self-driving division of technology giant Alphabet, sued ride services company Uber last month, alleging it stole proprietary trade secrets and used them to quickly scale up its autonomous vehicle programme.
In both parties’ first appearance before US District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, Arturo Gonzalez, a lawyer for Uber, said an employment agreement signed by Anthony Levandowski when he worked at Waymo has a “very broad arbitration provision” that should be used. Levandowski now works for Uber.
Arbitration is a private process that is a faster and less expensive way to resolve disputes than going to trial. In an arbitration, the case is heard by an arbitrator mutually agreed upon by the two sides. The arbitrator has the sole authority to make a ruling, and generally speaking, the arbitrator’s decision cannot be appealed.
In its lawsuit, Waymo said that before leaving the company Levandowski downloaded more than 14,000 confidential documents about Waymo’s work on Lidar, a key sensor used in autonomous technology. In discussing how Waymo’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop Uber from using the contested technology might be affected by a motion for arbitration, the judge told Gonzalez, “This is not a frivolous motion.”
“You don’t get many cases where there is pretty direct proof that someone downloaded 14,000 documents and then left the next day. This is a serious proposition,” Alsup said.
Gonzalez explained the intent to seek arbitration by saying, “I don’t know if the court has wondered why is it that individuals (mentioned in the complaint) are not defendants. Here’s the answer, because there is an employment agreement that has a very broad arbitration provision.” “We intend to file permission to file arbitration within two weeks,” Gonzalez added.
Waymo, the self-driving division of technology giant Alphabet, sued ride services company Uber last month, alleging it stole proprietary trade secrets and used them to quickly scale up its autonomous vehicle programme.
In both parties’ first appearance before US District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, Arturo Gonzalez, a lawyer for Uber, said an employment agreement signed by Anthony Levandowski when he worked at Waymo has a “very broad arbitration provision” that should be used. Levandowski now works for Uber.
Arbitration is a private process that is a faster and less expensive way to resolve disputes than going to trial. In an arbitration, the case is heard by an arbitrator mutually agreed upon by the two sides. The arbitrator has the sole authority to make a ruling, and generally speaking, the arbitrator’s decision cannot be appealed.
In its lawsuit, Waymo said that before leaving the company Levandowski downloaded more than 14,000 confidential documents about Waymo’s work on Lidar, a key sensor used in autonomous technology. In discussing how Waymo’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop Uber from using the contested technology might be affected by a motion for arbitration, the judge told Gonzalez, “This is not a frivolous motion.”
“You don’t get many cases where there is pretty direct proof that someone downloaded 14,000 documents and then left the next day. This is a serious proposition,” Alsup said.
Gonzalez explained the intent to seek arbitration by saying, “I don’t know if the court has wondered why is it that individuals (mentioned in the complaint) are not defendants. Here’s the answer, because there is an employment agreement that has a very broad arbitration provision.” “We intend to file permission to file arbitration within two weeks,” Gonzalez added.
