Waymo restfully dropped several of the patent of invention claims in its explosive lawsuit against Uber last night , admitting in a new tourist court filing that although it stick out behind its allegations of trade hidden theft and may follow newfangled patent claims later , it is n’t move onward with its current patent of invention infringement claims against one of Uber ’s lidar gimmick .
Waymo , the autonomous driving unit that Alphabet spin out from Google , sued Uber in February for patent and swop hole-and-corner infringement . Waymo says its former engineer , Anthony Levandowski , stole 14,000 secret document related to lidar development , and used them to make spookily similar systems for its competition , Uber . Waymo was tipped off when a circuit board manufacturer used by both ship’s company by chance CC’ed a Waymo employee on an email that contain drawings of Uber ’s circuit boards .
Apreliminary injunctionunsealed yesterday mostly supported Waymo ’s allegement , and ordered Levandowski to stay away from Uber ’s lidar project , but bid Waymo ’s current patent claim “ meritless . ” Waymo is now back away from those claims , saying it will no longer assert that Uber ’s current lidar system , Fuji , is infringe three of the four patents at issue in the casing ( Waymo may still act on claims against Fuji establish on one of the patents ) . Instead , Waymo will focalize its patent misdemeanour claim almost completely on one of Uber ’s older lidar organization , Spider .
Waymo ’s patent claims , which focus mainly on lens of the eye arrangement and design , have always feel like a bit of a difference in the lawsuit . The barter secret allegations have been directed primarily at Uber ’s electrical circuit boards — which , leave the ml fail , seem to be Waymo ’s strong claims . The judge in the guinea pig , William Alsup , acknowledged the strength of Waymo ’s trade wind undercover allegations , in particular tie in to its circuit boards , in the preliminary injunction . “ The bottom line is the grounds indicates that Uber hired Levandowski even though it acknowledge or should have known that he possessed over 14,000 confidential Waymo file cabinet likely containing Waymo ’s rational property ; that at least some entropy from those files , if not the files themselves , has seeped into Uber ’s own lidar development effort , ” Alsup compose .
Unsurprisingly , Uber is spinning Waymo ’s decision to move on from some of the patent claim as a win . Uber has spent most of the subject looking like it recklessly ripped of a competitor and had enough technical school - male child swagman to conceive it would actually get away with it , so having one of its claims vindicated leave Uber the chance to not look like the bad guy for once .
“ Yesterday we state that we feel confident that we will show our engineering science was build severally from the ground up . And just today , Waymo help us illustrate that by narrowing their patent of invention claim , ” an Uber spokesperson said in an e-mail to Gizmodo .
Waymo , meanwhile , suppose that Uber is pouncing on the patent title to deflect from Waymo ’s win in the preliminary injunction . “ Uber ’s mischaracterization of our claims is another desperate bidding to distract hoi polloi from the bottom line : that Uber has Waymo ’s intellectual belongings , and that this steal material has found its direction into their body of work . We stand by our strong grounds depict Uber ’s pattern both misappropriate our trade secrets and infringe on Waymo patents , ” a Waymo spokesperson say in an email to Gizmodo .
Uber ’s beenclaiming all alongthat its lidar system , nicknamed Fuji , is a multi - lens organization , and therefore does n’t copy Waymo ’s single - lens Grizzly Bear 3 . ( Levandowski has a habit of naming his lidar systems after mountains . ) But Waymo ’s claim about Fuji ’s genus Lens setup have been more disperse . Gregory Kintz , a physicist hired by Waymo to offer expert analysis of Fuji and Grizzly Bear , claimed ahead of time in the casethat Fuji definitely copied two of Waymo ’s patent . But after really going to see Uber ’s system in person , he changed his psyche and said Fuji was n’t infringing the patents after all .
“ Waymo ’s patent of invention theory are too infirm to support any probationary relief , ” Judge William Alsup save in the cease and desist order . Kintz , he added , was “ flat - out wrong . ”
The decision to strike down some of its patent claims against Fuji shows Waymo ’s letters patent title have shifted primarily to Spider . Uber had previously require the judge to displace Waymo ’s patent violation claims , but backed off when the judge create a young pattern limit the rising tide of filings from both English . Due to the legal quirk of the case , Waymo had to react — which it did by saying it ’ll drop most of its letters patent claims against Fuji .
“ Waymo will not be criminate Fuji on this criminal record of infringing the unmarried lense patents , ” Waymo ’s attorney Charles Verhoeven wrote in last Nox ’s filing .
Here ’s the full filing :
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