THE RECORDER POWERED BY LAW.COM FEBRUARY 09, 2018

Waymo, Uber Reach $244.8M Settlement on Driverless Car Trade Secrets Less than a week into their blockbuster trade secret showdown, Waymo and Uber have settled their dispute over driverless car technology.

Ross Todd and Caroline Spiezio | February 09, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO — Less than a week into their blockbuster trade secret showdown, Waymo and Uber have settled their dispute over driverless car technology. The parties announced they reached an agreement Friday morning as jaws dropped in a half-full courtroom, on what was set to be a technology-heavy fifth day of trial before U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California. According to a statement from Waymo, the settlement includes a payment from Uber that includes 0.34 percent of Uber eq- uity—or about $244.8 million in stock based on a $72 billion valuation. Reuters previ- ously reported that Waymo demanded $1 billion in settlement talks last year and had asked Uber for an apology. On Friday, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed “re- grets” in a prepared statement, but stopped Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s couldn’t comment on the case or settlement. short of a full-blown apology. Charles Verhoeven, who announced the Boies Schiller Flexner partner Karen Dunn, “This case is ancient history,” Alsup told parties had reached a settlement and who represented Uber, was also smiling, the court with a smile after the settlement moved to dismiss the case with prejudice, saying she’ll head back home Saturday. was announced. thanked Alsup for his devotion to the Arturo González of Morrison & Alsup then thanked the jury, telling them case. Foerster was one of the last to leave the they were free to “go write a book” about “[There is] nothing more for me to do courtroom, and, also donning a smile, said their experience, minus the trade secrets. in this case, it’s done, I think,” Alsup said. some members of the jury compliment- The judge also asked those gathered to clap “Both sides, I ask you to try to get all your ed him upon the case’s end. But he too for Farella Braun + Martel’s John Cooper, material out of the courtroom so I can couldn’t comment on specifics. the special master in the case who helped move on to the next case.” The underlying dispute centered referee the parties’ discovery disputes, Then, as soon as Friday’s session had on Uber’s acquisition of Ottomotto, an and the already bustling room filled with started, it was over. Uber general coun- autonomous car company founded by applause. sel Tony West was all smiles, but said he former Google engineer Anthony Levand- THE RECORDER POWERED BY LAW.COM FEBRUARY 09, 2018

owski. At trial, Waymo’s lawyers from Waymo to Uber, nor do we believe that didn’t immediately respond to messages Quinn Emanuel presented evidence that Uber has used any of Waymo’s proprietary Friday morning. Levandowski had downloaded a trove of information in its self-driving technology, 14,000-plus files from Google before he we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure Ross Todd is bureau chief of The Recorder left to form the startup and that he had our Lidar and software represents just our in San Francisco. He writes about litiga- copied the files to his personal laptop. good work,” Khosrowshahi said. tion in the Bay Area and around Califor- In Friday morning’s prepared state- Alsup previously referred the case to nia. Contact Ross at [email protected]. On ment, Khosrowshahi said that the acqui- the local U.S. Attorney’s Office in May for Twitter: @Ross_Todd. sition of Otto “made good business sense” “investigation of possible theft of trade se- at the time, but the “prospect” that Way- crets based on the evidentiary record sup- Caroline Spiezio covers the intersection mo employees might have inappropriately plied thus far.” Uber later that month fired of tech and law for Corporate Counsel. recruited others to join Otto or left with Levandowski after he refused to testify in She’s based in San Francisco. Find her on Google files “in retrospect, raised some the case and asserted his Fifth Amend- Twitter @CarolineSpiezio. hard questions.” ment right not to incriminate himself. “To be clear, while we do not believe Levandowski’s attorneys, Miles Ehrlich Copyright The Recorder. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewrit- that any trade secrets made their way from and Ismail Ramsey of Ramsey & Ehrlich, ten, or redistributed.