Anthony Levandowski , the former Google autonomous fomite applied scientist whose switch to Uber was the subject ofmassive case , has been sentenced to 18 month in prison house for trade wind thieving .
Levandowski Colorado - founded Google ’s autonomous fomite unit , now known as Waymo , in 2009 and act upon there until 2016 . That twelvemonth , he cease and found his own ship’s company , Otto , which itself waspromptly acquiredby Uber . It later turned out that before pass on Google , Levandowski download gigabytes of proprietary datum . Waymo sued Uber for trade theft and patent misdemeanour , claiming Uber ’s LiDAR tech trust on elements designed by Waymo . That set off a complicated serial of legal struggle whichended in a settlementin February 2018 .
There wereno clear superior . Google ’s parent companionship Alphabet walk by with $ 245 million in Uber equity , a relative pittance , and dropped all remaining trade theft claims . Uber and Levandowski maintained the whole meter that Waymo trade closed book were never upload to Uber host or used in growth . Uber ’s self - driving car are still in growing , although its effort isreportedly laggingbehind Waymo and competitor Lyft .
Anthony Levandowski outside the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in September 2019.Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)
Levandowski ’s trouble , however , did not terminate there . In August 2019 , the Department of Justice turn on himon 33 countsof theft of business deal secrets and undertake stealing of trade wind secrets for absconding from Google with 14,000 file . Those charges carried a maximum time of 10 years in prison house and up to $ 8.25 million in fines , plus restitution . Levandowskitook a supplication dealin March 2020 that get a line all but one of the charge drop , as well as agreed to furcate over $ 750,000 in return to Waymo . But the same month , Levandowski declare failure after courts uphold an arbitration ruling that he owed Google anadditional $ 179 millionfor rupture of declaration , admit by poaching Google engineers .
Per Reuters , U.S. District Judge William Alsup said during sentencing on Tuesday that not send out Levandowski to prison house would give a “ gullible light to every future smart as a whip engine driver to steal craft secrets . ” The 18 - month sentence is , however , less than the 27 month sought by prosecutors , and Levandowski wo n’t be required to come in custody until after the novel coronavirus pandemic subsides . ( consort to Reuters , Levandowski ’s attorneys argued a chronicle of pneumonia meant he would be particularly vulnerable to the virus , which is circulate like wildfire in thenation ’s prisons . ) The pandemic is n’t likely toend anytime soon , meaning that sentence could be check for some meter .
allot to TechCrunch , Levandowski filed a disjoined lawsuit in July claiming that the undisclosed term of the Waymo - Uber settlement included permanent blacklisting from work with Uber , as well as that Uber “ coerced ” him into selling his stake of Otto at a “ pregnant deduction . ”
Levandowski is asking for “ at least $ 4.128 billion ” in payouts from Uber Freight , Uber ’s business unit make out of Otto , which is some tantamount to the valuation ofthe entire unit , TechCrunch reported . He ’s also asking Uber to pay the $ 179 million he owe Google . The lawsuit against Uber also claims the company illicitly acquiredWaymo softwarefrom “ a unlike former Google employee , ” purportedly liberate him from some of the terms of the causa .
“ The last three and a half years have force me to come to terminal figure with what I did , ” Levandowskitold the Vergein a assertion . “ I require to take this time to apologize to my colleagues at Google for lead astray their trust , and to my entire family for the monetary value they have paid and will continue to pay for my activity . ”
Update : 2025-01-02 : In a statement to Gizmodo , a Waymo spokesperson cited Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Wawrzyniak as say that the theft erased the “ rake , sweat and tear ” their teams had put into build ego - labor cars .
“ Anthony Levandowski ’s thievery of autonomous technology swop secret has been enormously disruptive and harmful to Waymo , constituted a treason , and the effects would likely have been even more stark had it live on undetected , ” the spokesperson wrote . “ … Judge Alsup ’s decision today to sentence Levandowski to 18 months in prison for steal craft secrets from us represents a win for trade hole-and-corner Pentateuch that promote cut - border technology development . ”
ALPHABETCrimeGoogleSelf - driving carsTechnologyUberWaymo
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