Uber board directors saw key documents on an acquisition as part of Alphabet lawsuit

A new court filing details which individuals have viewed a key document that Alphabet argues will prove Uber knew it was inheriting Alphabet’s technology when it acquired Otto.

Current Uber board member Arianna Huffington and former board member Bill Gurley are among those who have seen the report, according to Friday’s filing.

Uber came under scrutiny after it acquired self-driving trucking startup Otto, a business founded by Anthony Levandowski, who previously led Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle efforts. Alphabet claims Levandowski stole 14,000 proprietary files before leaving to start Otto and is suing Uber over allegations the ride-hailing startup misappropriated that technology.

The lawsuit coincides with allegations of rampant sexual harassment at the company and revelations of questionably legal practices, which have prompted founding CEO Travis Kalanick to resign.

As part of Uber’s acquisition of Otto, it commissioned a due diligence report, which could reveal if Uber was aware of any Alphabet technology Levandowski may have had in his possession. Alphabet has been pushing for months for Uber to release the report, but Uber has objected to a court order to do so.

Now Uber has filed a document detailing who has seen the due diligence report. Alphabet has argued that the due diligence report would have revealed to Uber that Otto possessed stolen technology, which could mean Uber knowingly allowed stolen technology to come over with the acquisition.

But Uber has said the 14,000 files never touched its servers.

Friday’s court filing does not say when the individuals would have seen the due diligence report. The filing says the individuals would have seen the report minus exhibits, which means they would have seen descriptions of what the due diligence process found when it examined Otto but not necessarily photos of devices or other materials that illustrate findings.

Here is the full list of who saw the report:

The following individuals received copies of the due diligence report without exhibits: Tara Allport and Wendy Wu of Stroz Friedberg; four attorneys at Paul Weiss (who received it from then-Uber board member Bill Gurley); former Uber board member Bill Gurley (who received it from Uber in-house counsel Angela Padilla); former Uber board member David Bonderman (who received it from Uber’s in-house counsel; Mr. Bonderman subsequently shredded his copy); Uber board member Arianna Huffington (who received it from Uber’s inhouse counsel); Nicole Bartow, Aaron Bergstrom, Andrew Glickman, Todd Hamblet, Christian Lymn, Angela Padilla, Justin Suhr, Robert Wu, and Salle Yoo of Uber’s internal Legal Team (Angela Padilla and Justin Suhr received it from Morrison & Foerster and from there it was distributed to the above Uber in-house attorneys); Adam Bentley of Uber (who received it from O’Melveny & Myers); John Gardner of Donahue Fitzgerald (who received it from Stroz Friedberg); Eric Amdursky of O’Melveny & Myers (who received it from Stroz Friedberg); and Anthony Levandowski and Lior Ron.

—By Tess Townsend, Re/code.net.

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Source: Tech CNBC
Uber board directors saw key documents on an acquisition as part of Alphabet lawsuit