Judge Turns The Gun On Waymo In Uber Lawsuit, Prove Actual Harm Or Else

The lawsuit between Google’s self-driving division Waymo and Uber has been heating up for quite a while, with the plaintiff seeming to have the upper hand. In a recent twist, however, the judge overseeing the case gave Waymo a warning. Either the company proves that Uber did “actual harm” on its business or face “a world of trouble.”

The case is still pretty far from being over, but based on the recent comments by Judge William Alsup, it seems things are not going well for Waymo. During the Wednesday court hearing, the judge expressed his concern that so far, the self-driving has been unable to provide concrete evidence or even an example of how Uber has hurt them, Ars Technica reports.

"If you can’t prove that Uber got these trade secrets, then maybe you’re in a world of trouble," Judge Alsup said while addressing the Waymo legal team. "You are flailing about, with theory after theory after theory and a lot of these are not panning out."

Waymo is becoming so desperate, in fact, that it is willing to bet on former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to provide a statement that could bolster Google’s case. This is with regards to text messages that Kalanick had apparently exchanged with another former Uber executive, Anthony Levandowski. As a result, Waymo’s legal team are hoping that Kalanick would be willing to say as much.

"If Mr. Kalanick is willing to say he heard it, it’s proof that there is a good faith basis for the theory," Judge Alsup said.

Another player in the field being called upon for a deposition is Sergey Brin, one of Google’s co-founders, Recode reports. Apparently, Uber’s legal side wants to talk to Brin with regards to information that he may have. He was supposed to have been deposed last week, but Google rejected the move.