Google asks judge to freeze Uber self-driving car over IP theft claim...
Google has asked a judge to freeze Uber's use of
self-driving-car tech
By Danielle Muoio March 10, 2017
Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving-car division spun off from
Google, has filed a preliminary injunction against Uber in federal court on
Friday.
The preliminary injunction comes a few weeks after Waymo
filed an explosive lawsuit accusing Uber of stealing the design for its lidar
sensor that allows the car to detect obstacles. The injunction asks Uber to
stop making and using the devices it claims were built using stolen
intellectual property.
Waymo filed a sworn testimony by Gary Brown, a
forensic-security engineer, who said Anthony Levandowski, a former employee,
had downloaded 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary files relating to
Waymo's self-driving-car project.
Levandowski is an original member of Google's
self-driving-car unit. He left after nine years to found Otto, a startup
focused on autonomous trucks, which was acquired by Uber last year.
Brown claims that Levandowski downloaded the files in
December 2015 before leaving the company in January.
Brown accused Radu Raduta, a former Google mechanical
engineer, and Sameer Kshirsagar, the former global supply manager for
self-driving cars, of downloading other confidential material before joining
Levandowski at Otto.
Uber has denied the allegations made by Waymo in the
lawsuit, calling them "a baseless attempt to slow down a competitor."
Uber did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment on the
injunction filed Friday.
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