NEW DELHI: $179 million. That’s the amount a former employee of Google has to pay the tech giant for allegedly sharing trade secrets. According to a report by Reuters, Anthony Levandowski, has been ordered by a San Francisco county court to pay $179 million to end a contract dispute with Google.
Levandowski among with Lior Ron had left Google to start their own autonomous vehicle company. They both used to work for Waymo, the autonomous vehicle division of Google, but quit to start Otto. It was a rival company focused on autonomous trucking. Their startup was later acquired by Google. Google had accused that the two gentlemen in question had breached their contract and indulged in unfair competition practices. It was also alleged that they had passed on trade secrets, which was a breach of their contract.
While Ron had settled the dispute with Google and forked our $9.7 million, Levandowski disputed it. However, first an arbitration panel ruled out his case and now the court has backed the arbitration panel’s decision.
The report by Reuters states that ultimately Levandowski may not end up paying the massive sum himself. Generally in these cases, as per online reports, this sort of liability may fall on his employers. But it all depends on the contract. Interestingly, Levandowski has filed for bankruptcy. He said that the $179 debt — the amount he has to pay — exceeds his total assets. It is estimated that his total assets are somewhere between $50 million to $100 million. Google hasn’t made any comment on the matter.