The Uber-Waymo1 trade secret dispute was one of the biggest intellectual property disputes of the last few years, with overarching ramifications for the race to bring autonomous driving technology to market. In the summer of 2015, it was reported that Anthony Levandowski, a self-driving-car engineer, began asking other Google employees to join him at…
Tag: uber
The Impact of the Grubhub Lawsuit
Grubhub is an online platform that allows users to coordinate pick-up and delivery orders from restaurants. For restaurants that don’t have their own delivery drivers, Grubhub provides its own service to pick up orders from them and make the delivery to its customers. For employment purposes, Grubhub drivers are classified as independent contractors. In 2015,…
Google Sues Uber Over Self-Driving Technology
Google’s parent company Alphabet is suing Uber Technologies, alleging Uber stole trade secrets to jump-start its own autonomous vehicle program.1 Waymo, the Alphabet-owned self-driving truck company, has filed against Otto, a self-driving truck company, and its parent company, Uber.2 The suit revolves around former Google employee Anthony Levandowski. Levandowski left Google in 2016 to form…
Uber in China: Part 1 of 2
With nearly 1.4 billion people, China is a truly massive market for goods and services. It is no surprise that foreign companies have been trying to gain a foothold since China first began opening up in the late 1970s. Some foreign companies have been very successful in China despite some minor hiccups. For example, you…
Drivers v. Uber – An Employment Law Challenge
Despite its mass appeal and outstanding business prospects1, ridesharing platform Uber continues to face regulatory and legal hurdles that threaten to upend its business model. In this blog, I offer a primer of the most significant challenge Uber faces in the United States, a class action battle against their drivers. Unlike traditional taxicab companies which…
Increased Regulations on App-based Car Services
Uber, the fast-growing app-based car service, is becoming increasingly popular across the country and the world. Because of its critical mass, Uber is now a legitimate competitor to traditional taxi operators – competing on both price and service. But like a teenager, Uber is realizing that growing up fast can be a bit complicated. Going…