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Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

techcrunch.com

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Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#11

Post by jerf »

M_Grey wrote: post #8
jerf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's a completely non-substantiative quote from an attorney for one side that contains the implicit assumption that Uber really does have the documents and is actively committing crimes in discovery to prevent the discovery from working. Not only is it not an unbiased source, it's basically a source being paid to be biased. Which is fine; I am generally down with the philosophy of adversarial justice. But you s…

>...it may indeed be the case that these documents were never given to Uber. Then they should have their legal team pilloried and set ablaze for advising them to be this cagey.

I'm not particularly committing to either hypothesis right now. If Uber is indeed screwing around with discovery I would imagine they're going to end up in very big trouble. I for one would pretty much consider that prima facie evidence every executive even remotely involved in that decision, including simply being aware of it, should be immediately fired by the shareholders and everything possible clawed back from them. I don't consider that out of the question, but it's a pretty serious accusation on its own. Uber's kinda big to get away with that sort of shenanigan.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#12

Post by CalChris »

jerf wrote: post #7
themgt wrote: post #2

'“To the extent Uber tries to excuse its noncompliance on the grounds that Mr. Levandowski has invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to provide Uber with documents or assistance, Waymo notes that Mr. Levandowski remains — to this day — an Uber executive and in charge of its self-driving car program. Uber has ratified Mr. Levandowski’s behavior and is liable for it,” Waymo attorney Charles K. Verhoeven wrote in a le…

No, that's a completely non-substantiative quote from an attorney for one side that contains the implicit assumption that Uber really does have the documents and is actively committing crimes in discovery to prevent the discovery from working. Not only is it not an unbiased source, it's basically a source being paid to be biased. Which is fine; I am generally down with the philosophy of adversarial justice. But you s…

> No, that's a completely non-substantiative quote from an attorney for one side that contains the implicit assumption that Uber really does have the documents

Implicit assumption? The first paragraph of the TechCrunch article says:

  Uber admitted today that it had found one of the documents Waymo alleges was stolen by a former employee — who left its self-driving car effort to join Uber’s — on the employee’s personal computer.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#14

Post by huangc10 »

YCode wrote: post #3

Offhand, this kind of sounds like a parent asking their teenager to go and search their own room for drugs. "Nah, I didn't find anything. I found this plastic bag that looks like it mighta had something in it, but I'm pretty sure my friend left it here and it was empty when he brought it." "Okay son, go search again."

I have to...completely agree with you on your analogy. You forgot to mention the part about the urine sample.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#15

Post by nikanj »

jerf wrote: post #11
M_Grey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>...it may indeed be the case that these documents were never given to Uber. Then they should have their legal team pilloried and set ablaze for advising them to be this cagey.

I'm not particularly committing to either hypothesis right now. If Uber is indeed screwing around with discovery I would imagine they're going to end up in very big trouble. I for one would pretty much consider that prima facie evidence every executive even remotely involved in that decision, including simply being aware of it, should be immediately fired by the shareholders and everything possible clawed back from t…

Then again, a large part of Uber's success has been built upon shenanigans. It seems likely that they might develop an arrogance towards the legal system, after years of playing chicken with it.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#16

Post by MegaButts »

jerf wrote: post #11
M_Grey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>...it may indeed be the case that these documents were never given to Uber. Then they should have their legal team pilloried and set ablaze for advising them to be this cagey.

I'm not particularly committing to either hypothesis right now. If Uber is indeed screwing around with discovery I would imagine they're going to end up in very big trouble. I for one would pretty much consider that prima facie evidence every executive even remotely involved in that decision, including simply being aware of it, should be immediately fired by the shareholders and everything possible clawed back from t…

I certainly don't know the details, but it's hard for me to see a resolution to this where Uber isn't in trouble. Travis Kalanick has publicly stated that self-driving cars are necessary for the future of Uber, and anything that even puts a damper on that (in addition to all the talent they've already lost) is enough to likely kill them as - according to leaked financials - they are already hemorrhaging money.

I've never been bullish on Uber, but this is really bad.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#17

Post by elastic_church »

themgt wrote: post #2

'“To the extent Uber tries to excuse its noncompliance on the grounds that Mr. Levandowski has invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to provide Uber with documents or assistance, Waymo notes that Mr. Levandowski remains — to this day — an Uber executive and in charge of its self-driving car program. Uber has ratified Mr. Levandowski’s behavior and is liable for it,” Waymo attorney Charles K. Verhoeven wrote in a le…

Its actually really impressive that Uber is standing behind him at all. Nobodies get fired from their job from any old baseless accusation.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#20

Post by throwaway4job »

jerf wrote: post #11
M_Grey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>...it may indeed be the case that these documents were never given to Uber. Then they should have their legal team pilloried and set ablaze for advising them to be this cagey.

I'm not particularly committing to either hypothesis right now. If Uber is indeed screwing around with discovery I would imagine they're going to end up in very big trouble. I for one would pretty much consider that prima facie evidence every executive even remotely involved in that decision, including simply being aware of it, should be immediately fired by the shareholders and everything possible clawed back from t…

It's worth remembering a few other things:

1) If the suit is true, then it will almost certainly zero out the investors, and destroy the careers and fortunes of the executives.

2) Uber has a long history of keeping and promoting executives who lack integrity and show a willingness to break the law.

As such, it is reasonable to assume that Google is making a good faith effort to argue the strongest possible case on their side; and that Uber is likely to lie, cheat, and steal to make the strongest possible case on their side.

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