Article by
Mark Mermelstein and
Catherine Y. Lui
The Waymo v. Uber trade secrets litigation has been
underway for less than two months but the case has already hit
quite few speed bumps with multiple discovery battles, Waymo's
efforts to obtain a preliminary injunction from Judge William Alsup
of Northern District of California, a fight over arbitration,
assertions of 5th Amendment rights, and now an appeal to the
Federal Circuit that has temporarily halted a portion of the
district court proceedings.
As a quick recap of how we got here, Waymo alleges that
one of its former key managers in charge of Waymo's driverless
car business, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded more than 14,000
files to start a competing company—Otto—that Uber later
purchased. The key technology relates to a LiDAR system, which is
mounted on top of the car and gives the driverless car the ability
to "see" other cars and obstacles. Waymo is seeking a
preliminary injunction enjoining Uber from
