Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#21

Post by paxys » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:27 AM UTC

xrd wrote: post #19

It's been amusing to hear his story. Starting a church/religion was my favorite part. I bet Google and a bunch of other companies are excited about the message this sends to other arrogant engineers who might be considering leaving and building new companies with ideas developed at their prior places of employment. That precedent is worth billions if not trillions.

"building new companies with ideas developed at their prior places of employment" is VERY different from copying files and stealing IP. The former is the reason Silicon Valley is what it is today.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#22

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:28 AM UTC

projektfu wrote: post #17

maerF0x0 wrote: post #13

Seems out of proportion given 1) Google was willing to settle for [1]: https://threatpost.com/equifax-settles-class-action-lawsuit/...

The difference is that Lewandowski realized the value of the IP with the sale of the company. If the jury decides trade secrets made up x% of the company, he owes that percent of his proceeds. IMO, IANAL.

Arbitration panel, in this case. The real answer is that the legal system is not set up to keep a globally consistent harm_done->liability map. For one thing, the contents of employment contracts may lead to different damages in otherwise identical circumstances. For another thing, even if the circumstances were identical, it would be inefficient for justices to have to search every other possible case to make sure they are consistent with each other one. The law is a fuzzy rule system, not a perfect logical construct.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#23

Post by specular » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:28 AM UTC

tomerico wrote: post #6

zanek wrote: post #3

Levandowski just filed for bankruptcy saying he has less than $100M in assets . Does anyone know if he will only pay a percentage or is only delaying this by kicking the can down the road to another court ? I would be highly surprised if his employer (Uber) shouldered any of the this

I wonder how he doesn't have more assets after he sold his company to Uber for $680 millions

Very difficult to answer this with specificity, but in general there are a number of factors that influence the amount of cash you ultimately net from a sale, including:

- Cap table: what % is owed to other founders, investors, employees, etc?

- The total acquisition price may include substantial legal and other fees that will lower the actual amount received by the owners or shareholders.

- How much of the acquisition is financed through cash vs. equity? Equity may vest over a certain time period, and be subject to certain requirements (your sustained performance, ability to clear legal scrutiny, etc.).

- Taxes.

Taking all of this (and probably more) into consideration, it doesn't seem unreasonable for a founder to ultimately net <10% of the total sale price. Again, this is all wild speculation in this particular case.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#24

Post by jgalt212 » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:29 AM UTC

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #15

tozeur wrote: post #12

A friend of mine heard his personal attorney speak at a law school class. Even his attorney thought Anthony was a “jackass” for stealing the IP; his defense fell on him being an engineer who, at the end of the day, just wanted to build cool shit and wasn’t malicious.

Just a regular guy with assets somewhere between 50 and 100 million dollars.

well, multiples of that before this settlement was announced.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#25

Post by dereksine » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:29 AM UTC

atonse wrote: post #10

justicezyx wrote: post #2

I call this justice well served.

Only if he actually has to pay.

..."Levandowski himself may not have to pay the money personally, as this sort of liability may fall to his employer depending on his contract or other legal quirks."

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#26

Post by loeg » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:31 AM UTC

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #15

tozeur wrote: post #12

A friend of mine heard his personal attorney speak at a law school class. Even his attorney thought Anthony was a “jackass” for stealing the IP; his defense fell on him being an engineer who, at the end of the day, just wanted to build cool shit and wasn’t malicious.

Just a regular guy with assets somewhere between 50 and 100 million dollars.

Between -79 and -129 million dollars, really.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#27

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:31 AM UTC

dereksine wrote: post #25

atonse wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if he actually has to pay.

..."Levandowski himself may not have to pay the money personally, as this sort of liability may fall to his employer depending on his contract or other legal quirks."

You can see immediately below that he personally filed for bankruptcy. Now when rich people do this it doesn't always mean the same thing as when ordinary people do it, but it seems unlikely that he would need to take that step if he had no liability.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#28

Post by projektfu » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:32 AM UTC

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #22

projektfu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that Lewandowski realized the value of the IP with the sale of the company. If the jury decides trade secrets made up x% of the company, he owes that percent of his proceeds. IMO, IANAL.

Arbitration panel, in this case. The real answer is that the legal system is not set up to keep a globally consistent harm_done->liability map. For one thing, the contents of employment contracts may lead to different damages in otherwise identical circumstances. For another thing, even if the circumstances were identical, it would be inefficient for justices to have to search every other possible case to make sure t…

True, it shows that even highly valuable employees are Davids (or Sauls) against a corporate Goliath.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#29

Post by loeg » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:32 AM UTC

jgalt212 wrote: post #24

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a regular guy with assets somewhere between 50 and 100 million dollars.

well, multiples of that before this settlement was announced.

No, those are pre-settlement. He's now insolvent. The article touches on this at the end.

Re: Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay $179M to Google

#30

Post by anonuser123456 » Thu, Mar 05, 2020, 2:32 AM UTC

arcticbull wrote: post #20

par wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yolo'ed it all on r/wallstreetbets.

Now that hits close to home -- I mean, if he'd timed the drop, he'd probably be a trillionaire by now.

Counterparty risk; something the WSB crowd is going to painfully learn in the next few months :P