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Waymo wants $2.6 billion from Uber for a single trade secret

Engadget

During a hearing today wherein Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo asked a judge to delay its upcoming trial against Uber in order to review new evidence, Reuters reports that one of Uber's attorneys said Waymo is seeking $2.6 billion for the alleged theft of one of the trade secrets listed in its complaint. That's a heck of a lot of money, especially considering that single trade secret -- and it's not clear which one it is -- is one of nine total. What damages Waymo is requesting for the other eight weren't disclosed. The case centers around former Google employee Anthony Levandowski who left the company to start a self-driving truck business, Otto, which was later purchased by Uber. Waymo claims that over 14,000 proprietary design files were downloaded by Levandowski six weeks before he left Google -- information that Uber then used in the development of its LiDAR circuit board.