SC Magazine: In a first, Ukraine leaks Russian intellectual property as act of war. “The Main Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GURMO) hacked and leaked documents it claimed it stole from the Russian Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station this week. The act is believed to be the first time a hack-and-leak operation weaponized the leak of intellectual property to harm a nation.”
Trade Secrets Trends: City Claims Google’s Water Use Is A Trade Secret and Exempt from Oregon’s Public Records Laws . “After a reporter from The Oregonian inquired into Google’s water use, the City of Dalles (‘Dalles’) filed a Complaint against both the reporter and the newspaper (the ‘Defendants’) seeking declaratory relief, requesting that the court declare Google’s water use a trade secret under Oregon’s Public Records Law, ORS 192.311 et seq, and the Oregon Uniform Trade Secrets Act, ORS 646.461 et seq. As described below, the issue is whether Google’s water use is a trade secret, and if so, if the public interest exception, which may permit public disclosure of trade secrets, applies.”
Reuters: Levandowski gets 18 months in prison for stealing Google files. “A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski to 18 months in prison for stealing a trade secret from Google related to self-driving cars months before becoming the head of Uber Technologies Inc’s (UBER.N) rival unit.”
Gizmodo: Former Google Engineer Anthony Levandowski Escapes 32 of 33 Charges in Waymo Theft Plea Deal. “Anthony Levandowski, the ex-Google autonomous vehicle engineer slapped with 33 charges of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets last year, has struck a deal with Uncle Sam to plead guilty and escape with just one guilty plea, per the Wall Street Journal.”
New York Times: Former Star Google and Uber Engineer Charged With Theft of Trade Secrets. “Anthony Levandowski, one of Silicon Valley’s foremost technologists on self-driving cars, was charged by federal prosecutors on Tuesday with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets from Google.”
TechCrunch: Data breach exposes trade secrets of carmakers GM, Ford, Tesla, Toyota . “Security researcher UpGuard Cyber Risk disclosed Friday that sensitive documents from more than 100 manufacturing companies, including GM, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Tesla, Toyota, ThyssenKrupp, and VW were exposed on a publicly accessible server belonging to Level One Robotics.” Isn’t that more of a leak than a breach? C’mon now.
BuzzFeed: A Bombshell Letter That Could Change Waymo’s Case Against Uber Is Being Kept Confidential For Now. “A single letter may change the course of a billion-dollar civil suit between Uber and Waymo, the self-driving car division of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. That letter, a previously undisclosed 37-page document that was only discovered by the court last week, alleges that the ride-hailing giant developed secret, off-the-books efforts to steal trade secrets from rivals and cover its tracks. On Tuesday, Waymo’s lawyers read excerpts of that document aloud to a court, while its signatory, former Uber employee Ric Jacobs, sat on the stand and testified on its wide-ranging allegations.” I haven’t mentioned this court case as much as I could have because it’s peripheral and there are so many other resources to mention. But this is so bonkers I wanted to include it.
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