Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) self-driving vehicle division Waymo has been ordered by a U.S District Judge to give Uber some of the documents pertaining to its partnership with ride-hailing company, Lyft.
The judge issued the ruling on Friday as part of the ongoing legal battle between Waymo and Uber. The Alphabet subsidiary filed a lawsuit against Uber for patent infringement and allegedly copying trade secrets when it hired a former Waymo engineer. Uber hit back against Alphabet claiming that the lawsuit was the tech giant’s strategy to delay the deployment of the taxi company’s self-driving technology.
Uber is not yet out of the woods
Though the recent ruling by the District Judge was in favor of Uber, it is still not yet out of the woods. Its intention was to push Lyft to bring the autonomous vehicle technology into the mainstream but Lyft was given a motion for a protective order by a judge. This means the company does not have to offer sensitive internal documents or testimonies to Uber. Waymo has up to Jul 13 to comply with the judicial order.
Waymo has also dropped three of the four patent infringement claims that were involved in the lawsuit against Uber. The Alphabet division’s decision to include patent claims to the fight against Uber were initially surprising. This is especially because the company has been known to avoid patent battles. However, Uber believes that the company chose to drop three of the claims for other reasons.
“Waymo’s retreat on three of their four patent claims is yet another sign that they have overpromised and can’t deliver,” stated Uber.
Uber’s motivation for the statement is the fact that Alphabet does not have any evidence that supports its claims. However, a Waymo spokesperson stated on Thursday that the three patent claims were dropped due to the fact that they are related to a specific “Spider” lidar design that is no longer used by Uber. The spokesman also added that the fourth patent claim revolves around the “Fuji” lidar design which is still in use.
Alphabet stock closed the latest trading session on Friday at $940.81.