Originally published in Entrepreneur Magazine

By Glynna Christian

In late 2016, San Francisco-based software engineer Anthony Levandowski got a new job when car-sharing service Uber acquired Otto, the autonomous trucking company that he had started less than a year earlier for a reported $680 million. Eventually, his technology found its way into Uber’s self-driving car project and Levandowski himself was named Uber’s vice president of engineering.

But there was a problem.

Soon after the acquisition, Levandowski’s former employer, Waymo, an Alphabet subsidiary, sued him, accusing the star engineer of stealing thousands of documents related to the company’s self-driving technology, including blueprints, testing documents and design files. The lawsuit alleges that this intellectual property went into his work at Otto, and was later incorporated by Uber.

As the case dragged on, Levandowski refused to cooperate with investigators and Uber eventually fired him, all because of questions surrounding the data he used to build his business. The case is not yet set for trial.

This is an extreme example, but it is reflective of what can happen when a company is accused of misappropriating the data it used to underpin its business. And the situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better…

Read the full article at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/308351