Google's claim against former executive could help Uber

Waymo filed a motion seeking temporary injunction to stop Uber's driverless car development

Several months before filing a lawsuit against Uber, Google demanded arbitration against the head of Uber’s self-driving car unit, claiming that he used confidential salary information while trying to poach former colleagues to a new venture that he eventually sold to Uber.
 
Google’s previously undisclosed legal action against Anthony Levandowski, who is accused by Waymo of stealing corporate secrets when he worked there and taking them to Uber, came out in a motion filed by Uber’s lawyers on Wednesday. Waymo, an autonomous car business, spun out into its own subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, in December. Levandowski is at the centre of a high-powered legal dispute between Waymo and Uber. Waymo has said that Levandowski, who joined Uber six months after leaving Google, when the ride-hailing service bought his start-up Otto for $680 million in August, colluded with Uber to steal information about Waymo’s self-driving vehicle technology.

 
Waymo filed a motion seeking a temporary injunction this month to stop Uber’s driverless car development.
 

Uber wants to settle the lawsuit in arbitration, arguing that Waymo’s claims stem from Levandowski’s time at Google and are covered by an arbitration clause in his employment contract. Arbitration is usually less expensive and proceeds faster than a federal lawsuit. It is not argued in front of a jury, and arbitration hearings are not part of the public record.
 
In Wednesday’s motion, Uber said that Waymo filed two arbitration demands against Levandowski in October saying that he breached the confidentiality agreement in his employment contract with Google when he used confidential salary information to make “targeted offers to Waymo’s employees” to aid Uber and Otto. Similarly, he used that information to induce “Waymo employees to join a competing driverless-car enterprise,” according to court documents.

 
The documents do not mention if the arbitration was settled. Waymo said Wednesday evening that it intended to oppose Uber’s motion. Uber said it would move forward with its request for arbitration on the dispute with Waymo this week.
 
“The broad arbitration provisions in Levandowski’s employment contracts require that disputes with anyone arising out of or related to Levandowski’s employment must be arbitrated,” wrote Arturo Gonzalez, Uber’s layer.
 
Uber is also asking an arbitrator to declare that Waymo’s accusations that Uber misappropriated trade secrets and competed unfairly are “meritless.”
 
While Uber wants to arbitrate Waymo’s claims that Uber is using trade secrets and competed unfairly, the ride-hailing service said Waymo’s claims of patent infringement should move ahead in federal court.

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