Waymo’s legal argument relies on a less-traveled area of intellectual property law: trade secrets. But because trade secrets can be hard to define, they raise questions about the line between an employee’s skill or knowledge versus intellectual property belonging to an employer. When called to testify, Mr. Levandowski is expected to exercise his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. He hasn’t cooperated with Uber’s lawyers, and Judge Alsup has referred Mr. Levandowski to the federal prosecutors for possible theft of trade secrets. After he was fired, Mr. Levandowski announced that he would start a religion worshiping a Godhead based on artificial intelligence.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2018 23:15 UTC