The case between Uber and Waymo is reaching a head today. While Waymo did present quite a bit of evidence, US. District Judge William Alsup has yet to be convinced that Uber is the real culprit here.
Speaking at the hearing, Alsup said that he had yet to see any clear evidence that Uber had actually conspired with an engineer (that is Anthony Levandowski) so as to steal trade secrets with Uber. The judge said that he was still unsure over whether he should issue an injunction against the cab aggregator.
However, he did say that Anthony Levandowski’s role was firmly established. As per Reuters:
It was undisputed that the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded about 14,000 documents shortly before he stopped working for Waymo.
The cab aggregator could be in big trouble if an injunction against it was in fact issued. The company is betting big on self-driving cars and so are its investors. It would be in the company’s best interests if its self-driving program was allowed to continue unhindered.
Waymo on the other hand, stands to gain a lot if Uber was put out of action considering that it is one of its biggest competitors and one of the leaders in the space. However, Judge William Alsup refused to make a ruling on Wednesday, stating that:
I’ve given you lots of discovery, and so far you don’t have any smoking gun.
He also commented upon Waymo’s claims that Levandowski had received a huge amount of money from Uber, in return for Otto.
So what? That’s a lot of money I guess, but why wouldn’t he get a lot of money?
Well, clearly Waymo needs to put in more work however, Uber seems to have received a temporary respite.
You can read more about the hearing in our coverage from earlier.
