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Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

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Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#71

Post by amznthrwaway »

hannasanarion wrote: post #41

Why is the government throwing people in jail for leaking trade secrets? Trade secrets aren't supposed to have government protection, that's the entire point: they're risky. If you want a monopoly on your technology, you're supposed to file a patent. Trade secrets were invented as a riskier way to extend your monopoly by giving up government protection. If the government is going to give trade secrets the same protec…

Why aren't they throwing him in jail for much longer? 18 months is hardly a deterrent when the upside was an extremely good chance at generational wealth.

He needs more than a 1.5 year vacation. He needs a real punishment.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#72

Post by pinewurst »

unityByFreedom wrote: post #58
w0mbat wrote: post #50

This guy had such a sweet deal at Google originally, it staggers me that he'd go to these lengths to steal even more. He was getting a massive salarY, bonuses in the millions, and he had persuaded Google to pay him even more money through a side-hustle company of his while remaining an employee. Then he quits and steals their stuff.

Probably a habit built up over time. You don't just go from upstanding guy to con man overnight.

Read the stories about him - he was always scamming to move up - specifically how he treated the other people who were helping with his ventures.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#73

Post by amznthrwaway »

cwhiz wrote: post #70
gilrain wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A courtesy not afforded to the largely not-rich, not-white general prison population. I don't think Levandowski should be treated worse, just noting it would be nice if less privileged prisoners were treated as humanely.

It’s a courtesy that is absolutely being afforded to people in California, where this is taking place. Some people just want to see racism everywhere they look.

That's because we're looking at racist white supremacists, such as yourself.

I really wish dang cared about this issue, but dang is very CLEARLY pro white supremacist. It fucking sucks, but it makes sense since Paul Graham is bigoted as hell, and Peter Thiel doesn't even hide his racism.

Oh well, congratulations dang, you are helping to keep YC a safe space for whiny racist assholes.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#74

Post by xenihn »

gilrain wrote: post #32
williamstein wrote: post #5

Much more interesting to me is that the article says "he will not need to report until threat of COVID-19 pandemic has passed." and "With no end to the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, it is possible that Levandowski’s latest lawsuit will be resolved before he even reports to jail."

A courtesy not afforded to the largely not-rich, not-white general prison population. I don't think Levandowski should be treated worse, just noting it would be nice if less privileged prisoners were treated as humanely.

Come to California and see for yourself. It is afforded to everyone.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#75

Post by ridaj »

w0mbat wrote: post #50

This guy had such a sweet deal at Google originally, it staggers me that he'd go to these lengths to steal even more. He was getting a massive salarY, bonuses in the millions, and he had persuaded Google to pay him even more money through a side-hustle company of his while remaining an employee. Then he quits and steals their stuff.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's actually clearly correlated. The same underlying ego could've driven both the ambition and rewards he got at Google (after lots of rule-bending) and the brazen theft.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#76

Post by enraged_camel »

oh_sigh wrote: post #69
0xB31B1B wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he didn't get any of the ~600m from the otto sale. It was entirely based on earn outs from progress, and there was no progress, and none of the milestones were hit.

I was talking about his Google compensation which was reported to be approximately 170 million

If it's any consolation: the more money you have, the more painful a jail sentence, even a short one like this, is, because the opportunity cost is massive.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#77

Post by gamblor956 »

CarelessExpert wrote: post #59
hannasanarion wrote: post #41

Why is the government throwing people in jail for leaking trade secrets? Trade secrets aren't supposed to have government protection, that's the entire point: they're risky. If you want a monopoly on your technology, you're supposed to file a patent. Trade secrets were invented as a riskier way to extend your monopoly by giving up government protection. If the government is going to give trade secrets the same protec…

> Trade secrets were invented as a riskier way to extend your monopoly by giving up government protection. You're definitely mistaken on that point. Trade secrets enjoy protection in the law, both in the US and worldwide: https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/trade-secret-policy > If the government is going to give trade secrets the same protection as patents (or even more, because patent infringement doesn't come with jai…

Trade secrets are subject to certain protections, such as protections against IP theft.

It's perfectly fine for a competitor to independently reverse-engineer a trade secret from scratch.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#78

Post by justinclift »

codezero wrote: post #22
sushid wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean "confused." I think the supplier knew exactly what was happening and decided to let the cat out of the bag.

I'd agree with you, if I hadn't worked adjacent to the financial industry for a bit. There are a lot of companies with liberty in the name (not even just US based), and I've mixed some up, even on technical issues. Obviously the "name" isn't the issue, or maybe it is, it's possible they worked with this person in the past, and it never occurred to them to check the current employer, because it usually doesn't change…

"Never attribute to Clover's razor that which can adequately be explained by Hanlon's razor."? :)

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#79

Post by CarelessExpert »

gamblor956 wrote: post #77
CarelessExpert wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Trade secrets were invented as a riskier way to extend your monopoly by giving up government protection. You're definitely mistaken on that point. Trade secrets enjoy protection in the law, both in the US and worldwide: https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/trade-secret-policy > If the government is going to give trade secrets the same protection as patents (or even more, because patent infringement doesn't come with jai…

Trade secrets are subject to certain protections, such as protections against IP theft. It's perfectly fine for a competitor to independently reverse-engineer a trade secret from scratch.

Yup, I mentioned that specifically about half way down my comment. Tbf, I edited it a lot for a while there and added that later so you may have seen an earlier version. :)

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#80

Post by 55555 »

credit_guy wrote: post #40
glitchc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said money can’t literally buy a get out of jail card?

When you say "literally" do you mean to imply he literally paid someone? That's quite implausible.

He certainly paid his legal team.
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