GOOGL Alphabet Inc

By Elizabeth Wollman 

Anthony Levandowski, the self-driving engineer accused by Google of breaching his employment contract and misusing confidential information, filed for bankruptcy, citing a $179 million legal judgment.

A judge ruled Wednesday in San Francisco County Superior Court that Mr. Levandowski must pay Google an award determined in December by an arbitration panel, plus interest and lawyers' fees. Mr. Levandowski had appealed the arbitration panel's decision.

Mr. Levandowski left Google's self-driving car unit, Waymo, in 2016 and helped start a company soon acquired by Uber Technologies Inc., igniting a multipronged fight over proprietary information tied to the future of transportation that is still raging.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. sued Uber in 2017, claiming that Mr. Levandowski stole more than 14,000 confidential files before leaving Google. Waymo claimed the stolen information made its way into Uber's Lidar design, a sensor that uses light pulses to detect obstacles on or near the road, allowing Uber to fast-track its own self-driving cars. Waymo and Uber settled the lawsuit in 2018, but not before the judge in the case asked federal prosecutors to investigate Uber and Mr. Levandowski over possible trade-secret theft.

While Mr. Levandowski wasn't a defendant in the lawsuit, he faced claims in arbitration tied to his employment contract. He earned more than $120 million at Google, according to legal documents.

Uber acknowledged this week in a regulatory filing that it has an indemnification agreement with Mr. Levandowski tied to his employment, but the two are in a dispute over whether the company is responsible for the arbitration award.

"This arbitration was not about trade secrets but about employees leaving Google for new opportunities and an engineer being used as a pawn by two tech giants," Neel Chatterjee, one of Mr. Levandowski's lawyers, said in an emailed statement after the publication of this article. "Google fought tooth and nail to take back every penny paid to Anthony for his multibillion-dollar contributions and now Uber is refusing to indemnify Anthony despite explicitly agreeing to do so. Anthony had no choice but to file for bankruptcy to protect his rights as he pursues the relief he is legally entitled to."

A spokesman for Uber declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Waymo said the award is a "significant judgment" and the company will continue to take the necessary steps to protect its confidential information. In the bankruptcy filing Wednesday, Mr. Levandowski lists estimated assets of $50 million to $100 million and estimated liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.

In August, Mr. Levandowski was charged by federal authorities with 33 counts of trade-secret theft.

According to an indictment, Mr. Levandowski, while working at Waymo, downloaded files in December 2015 including schematics and engineering drawings as well as internal technical goals onto his company computer. Three days later he allegedly transferred the files onto his personal laptop. Mr. Levandowski resigned from Waymo in January 2016, and a month later signed a term sheet for a deal with Uber, according to federal officials.

--Preetika Rana contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 05, 2020 14:05 ET (19:05 GMT)

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