Waymo firm filed patent and trade secret case against cab service UBER. It took alphabet’s Inc seven years to design and build a laser-scanning system to develop its self-driving cars. Uber Technologies Inc. allegedly did it in nine months. According to waymo whatever happened was no fair at law. Waymo says that we strongly believe in fair competition and what Uber done was completely wrong.

Technology

Waymo developed its own combination of unique laser systems to provide critical information for the operation of fully self-driving vehicles. Waymo experimented with, and ultimately developed, a number of different cost-effective and high-performing laser sensors known as LiDAR. LiDAR is a laser-based scanning and mapping technology that uses the reflection of laser beams off objects to create a real-time 3D image of the world. Waymo’s found all this from an email containing diagrams of a LIDAR board marketed by Uber which was accidentally sent to Waymo.

Betrayal

Waymo also uncovered that the evidence that Anthony Levandowski, a former manager in Waymo’s self-driving car project – now doing the same work for Uber – downloaded more than 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary files shortly before his resignation. The 14,000 files included a wide range of highly confidential files, including Waymo’s LiDAR circuit board designs.
According to waymo’s Anthony installed a new operating system that would have the effect of reformatting his laptop, attempting to erase any forensic fingerprints that would show what he did with Waymo’s valuable LiDAR designs once they had been downloaded to his computer. After Mr. Levandowski wiped this laptop, he only used it for a few minutes, and then inexplicably never used it again.
Waymo’s lawsuit is ill-timed for Uber, a company already in crisis over allegations of sexual harassment.

The amended complaint filed by Waymo against Uber asserts claims from four patents held by Waymo. The patents in suit includes:

 U.S. Patent No. 8836922, titled Devices and Methods for a Rotating LIDAR Platform with a Shared Receive Path. It claims a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device with a lens mounted to a rota table housing.
 U.S. Patent No. 9285464, same title as ‘922 patent. It claims a similar LIDAR device where light is focused onto detectors to measure distances for creating a three-dimensional map of a scanning zone.
 U.S. Patent No. 9368936, titled Laser Diode Firing System. It claims an apparatus with a voltage source, an inductor, a diode, a transistor, a light emitting element and a capacitor that increases a voltage level and causes the light emitting element to emit a pulse of light.
 U.S. Patent No. 9086273, titled Microrod Compression of Laser Beam in Combination with Transmit Lens. It claims a LIDAR device with a laser diode that emits an uncollimated laser beam which reduces the complexity and cost of using such devices with an autonomous vehicle.