uber-waymo-court-showdown

It's been five months since Google self-driving car spinoff Waymo filed its bombshell lawsuit alleging Uber swiped its trade secrets, and as the October court date approaches, the phalanxes of high-powered attorneys on each side are maneuvering into battle formation. But absent a smoking gun, Waymo will attempt to weave together a series of not-so-pretty facts--that Levandowski has asserted his Fifth Amendment right, and that Uber knew about the swiped info before it acquired a company founded by Levandowski--into a narrative that culminates with Uber knowingly stealing self-driving tech. The fight here will focus on a due diligence report, Uber's detailed accounting of its security steps during the Otto acquisition process, when trade secrets might have slipped into the Uber bloodstream. In early 2016, well before Uber officially acquired Otto in August, Uber lawyers say Levandowski told Otto cofounder Lior Ron that "he had found five discs in his home that contained Google information."