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Levandowski stole documents to secure bonus, Uber says


Anthony Levandowski, Otto Co-founder and VP of Engineering at Uber.

Angela Merendino | AFP | Getty Images

Anthony Levandowski, Otto Co-founder and VP of Engineering at Uber.

The question now before the courts is whether Levandowski’s documents, including Alphabet trade secrets, were used to develop Uber’s self-driving cars.

Levandowski was paid generously at Google, by a division that is now Alphabet’s Waymo. He collected $120 million from Google, despite involvement with at least one start-up that would ultimately compete with his employer, Waymo said.

But Uber said on Friday that Levandowski downloaded the documents to compile extensive evidence that he deserved a bonus, and just happened to hang on to them. Indeed, Uber said that Levandowski admitted as much to former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and that the corresponding files were supposed to be destroyed during Uber’s acquisition of Otto.

“Levandowski downloaded the files in connection with ensuring payment of his $120 million Google bonus,” an Uber spokesperson said. “Even if Levandowski did what Waymo says he did, he did it as a Google employee, for reasons unrelated to his future employment at Uber.”

Uber has proposed a detailed line of questioning, with more than 10 questions directly related to how concerned Levandowski was about his bonus.

To be sure, these allegations are just one side of the story. Waymo labeled Uber’s claim as fictitious, intended to distract people from Waymo’s evidence showing Uber used Waymo’s trade secrets. The timeline of when Levandowski downloaded the documents and when he stopped working at Waymo has also been under dispute — outlets like Bloomberg previously reported that Levandowski said he used the documents to work from home.

Levandowski has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights throughout the process, and his lawyers were not immediately available for comment. Uber said it might not even call Levandowski as a witness during a trial.

But Uber could depose Google founder Larry Page. Google parent Alphabet has already walked back most of its accusations against Uber, with only one piece of technology still under dispute.

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