BSF and co-counsel secured a settlement on behalf of client Uber Technologies in a hotly contested trade secrets case brought by Waymo over the future of self-driving cars that was billed as the intellectual property trial of the century. At the beginning of the case, Waymo had sought damages in excess of $1.6 billion and Judge William Alsup warned Uber’s counsel they were “up against it” because he had never seen such a strong record as Waymo’s. Waymo ultimately settled for a stake in Uber valued at a fraction of that amount, in an agreement that allows Uber to move forward with its development of self-driving cars.
The BSF trial team included partners Mike Brille, Hamish Hume, Meredith Dearborn, Max Pritt, Josh Riley, Ed Takashima, and Melissa Zappala; counsel Josh Friedman; and associates Martha Goodman, Henry Smith, Fiona Tang, Kaitlyn Murphy, and Kyle Smith.