Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP Partner Daniel H. Handman is quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle article titled, "Judge bars Uber star engineer from key self-driving tech work." The piece details the granting of a temporary injunction by U.S. District Judge William Alsup prohibiting Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, who joined the company from Google's self-driving unit Waymo, from working on "lidar" technology (which helps autonomous vehicles see around themselves) until a pending trade secrets lawsuit between Waymo and Uber is resolved. Alsup also ordered Uber to turn over any files in dispute in the suit and provide a list of employees who may have accessed them or discussed their content with Levandowski.
Handman commented on the challenge of containing damage to trade secret exposure and the practicality of the temporary injunction, "Like many trade-secrets matters, this case shows the issue 'when the horse is out of the barn.' What is impossible is for the court to compel Uber and its employees to ‘un-know’ what they now know. Much of the damage may already be done.”
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