Editing Anthony Levandowski (section)

== Civil lawsuit ==

According to a February 2017 civil lawsuit filed by Waymo officially known as ''Waymo v. Uber'' (Levandowski was not a defendant in the case),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/waymo-v-uber-surprise-settlement-five-days-into-trial|title=Waymo v. Uber: Surprise Settlement Five Days into Trial|website=Harvard Journal of Law & Technology|date=March 3, 2018 |language=en|access-date=2020-03-09}}</ref> Levandowski allegedly "downloaded 9.7 GB of Waymo's confidential files and trade secrets, including blueprints, design files, and testing documentation"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@waymo/a-note-on-our-lawsuit-against-otto-and-uber-86f4f98902a1|title=A note on our lawsuit against Otto and Uber|date=2017-02-23|website=Medium|access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-23/alphabet-s-waymo-sues-uber-for-stealing-self-driving-patents|title=Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets|date=2017-02-23|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref> before resigning to found [[Otto (company)|Otto]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Chafkin|first1=Max|last2=Bergen|first2=Mark|title=Did Uber Steal the Driverless Future From Google?|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-16/fury-road-did-uber-steal-the-driverless-future-from-google|access-date=19 May 2017|work=[[Bloomberg Businessweek]]|date=16 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Isaac|first1=Mike|title=How Uber and Waymo Ended Up Rivals in the Race for Driverless Cars|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/technology/silicon-valley-driverless-cars.html|access-date=19 May 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=18 May 2017|page=A1}}</ref> Google co-founder [[Larry Page]] was reluctant to file the suit. However, he was pushed over the edge when one of Waymo's suppliers inadvertently copied a Waymo engineer on an email of a schematic of Uber's Lidar design. Uber's design appeared to be almost identical to that of Waymo.<ref name=SuperPumped>{{cite book|title=Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber|author1=Mike Isaac|title-link=Super Pumped|publisher=[[W. W. Norton]]|date=2019|isbn=9780393652246}}</ref>{{rp|234}} The civil suit between Uber and Waymo was settled in February 2018 with Uber agreeing to pay Waymo 0.34% of its equity, valued at approximately $245 million, and not to use the unit's technology.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/uber-waymo-settled-trade-secrets-clash/2018/02/09/1a314c38-0db6-11e8-998c-96deb18cca19_story.html|title=Uber to pay $245 million to settle Waymo's theft allegations|last1=Liedtke|first1=Michael|last2=Krisher|first2=Tom|date=February 9, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=9 February 2018|agency=AP}}</ref>

Before filing its lawsuit against Uber in 2017, Google had separately taken Levandowski to private [[arbitration]] over a contract dispute.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/29/waymo-pursued-arbitration-with-anthony-levandowski-before-it-sued-uber/|title=Waymo pursued arbitration with Anthony Levandowski before it sued Uber|website=TechCrunch|date=March 29, 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-09}}</ref> On March 4, 2020, Levandowski filed for bankruptcy protection after the court confirmed an arbitration panel's ruling that Levandowski and his colleague Lior Ron had breached their employment contracts with Google by poaching employees for their startup. The panel found that Levandowski owed Google $179 million—$120 million accounted for the salary he received while at the company, and the remainder for interest and legal fees accrued.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Isaac|first=Mike|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/technology/anthony-levandowski-google-uber.html|title=Star Engineer Who Crossed Google Is Ordered to Pay $179 Million to Company|date=2020-03-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-07|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On March 30, 2020, Levandowski filed a motion with a California bankruptcy judge to force Uber to honor its contractual obligation to indemnify Levandowski. At issue is the validity of the indemnification agreement that Uber, Levandowski, and Ron entered into pre-acquisition. According to a court document, "The indemnification agreement was structured to ensure that Mr. Levandowski would not be left unprotected against Google, which had inexhaustible resources to attack Mr. Levandowski."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1258840/levandowski-says-uber-must-arbitrate-contract-fight|title=Levandowski Says Uber Must Arbitrate Contract Fight - Law360|website=www.law360.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref> Uber initially honored the agreement and covered both Levandowski and Ron's legal costs. However, in April 2018, days before the final arbitration hearing that resulted in Levandowski owing Google $179 million, Uber informed him it would be seeking reimbursement for his defense costs, arguing he had breached their agreement by refusing to testify.<ref name=":3" />

In March 2017, United States District Judge [[William Alsup]] referred the civil case to federal prosecutors, citing the [[Economic Espionage Act of 1996]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Henning|first=Peter J.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/business/dealbook/levandowski-trade-secret-uber.html|title=What Is a Trade Secret? A Key Question in the Case Against Anthony Levandowski|date=2019-09-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-09|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> after Levandowski exercised his Fifth Amendment right against [[self-incrimination]].<ref name=":1">{{cite news|last1=Wakabayashi|first1=Daisuke|last2=Isaac|first2=Mike|title=Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/technology/uber-waymo-levandowski.html|access-date=19 May 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=31 March 2017|page=B5}}</ref> In May 2017, Judge Alsup ordered Levandowski to refrain from working on [[Lidar]] at Uber and required Uber to disclose its discussions on the technology.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Isaac|first1=Mike|title=Uber Engineer Barred From Work on Key Self-Driving Technology, Judge Says|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/technology/uber-self-driving-lawsuit-waymo.html|access-date=19 May 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=16 May 2017|page=B1}}</ref> Levandowski was later fired by Uber for failing to cooperate in an internal investigation.<ref name="fired">{{cite news|last1=Mullin|first1=Joe|date=30 May 2017|title=Uber engineer Levandowski, accused of massive theft from Google, has been fired|publisher=Ars Technica|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/ubers-levandowski-gets-fired/|access-date=30 May 2017}}</ref> Soon after the case went to trial, Uber, through its lawyers, publicly apologized for hiring Levandowski.<ref name=SuperPumped/>{{rp|255}}

In February, 2022, Levandowski, Uber and Google negotiated a global settlement agreement for the lawsuit Google brought against Levandowski. According to court records, Uber agreed to pay Google a “Substantial Portion” of the settlement, honoring their indemnification clause with Levandowski. Levandowski was required to pay between $25M and $30M.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inside the Uber and Google settlement with Anthony Levandowski |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/15/inside-the-uber-and-google-settlement-with-anthony-levandowski/ |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=TechCrunch |date=February 16, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rosenblatt |first=Joel |date=February 14, 2022 |title=Uber Settles Waymo Litigation in Saga That Drew in Thiel, Trump |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-15/uber-settles-waymo-litigation-in-saga-that-drew-in-thiel-trump |website=Bloomberg}}</ref>

In April 2022, the settlement agreement faced objections from the U.S. Department of Justice and California’s Internal Revenue Service over the tax implications for Levandowski’s estate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uber's Payment in Engineer's Bankruptcy Plan May Carry Tax Bill |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/ubers-payment-in-engineers-bankruptcy-plan-may-carry-tax-bill |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=news.bloomberglaw.com |language=en}}</ref>