The Uber versus Google war is heating up as the ride services firm plans to push for an arbitration of the Waymo self-driving case instead of going to trial.
According to Reuters, Arturo Gonzalez, an attorney representing Uber, told U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco that the ride services firm intends to file a petition to send its legal case with Google's Waymo self-driving division to arbitration over the next couple of weeks.
The battle between Uber and Google started when the latter's parent company Alphabet filed a lawsuit against Uber, claiming the ride services firm stole 14,000 documents of propriety trade secrets through Waymo's former employee Anthony Levandowki.
Levandowski started his autonomous truck company Otto which was later on purchased by Waymo. He now works for Uber.
Waymo accused Levandowski of downloading confidential documents about Waymo's work on key sensor Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) before leaving the company.
Waymo has requested for a preliminary injunction to stop Uber from using the contested technology.
Reuters reported that Gonzales spoke with Judge Alsup saying Levandowski's contract during his time at Waymo has a "very broad arbitration provision," which Uber can use to handle the dispute.
"You don't get many cases where there is pretty direct proof that someone downloaded 14,000 documents and then left the next day. This is a serious proposition," said Gonzales.
Charles Verhoeven, an attorney for Waymo, confirmed that Levandowski had signed a contract that included non-disclosure provisions.
According to Drive, an arbitration is a legally binding form of third party dispute resolution that allows parties to settle a lawsuit out of court.
The arbitration process is a faster and cheaper alternative to court trial, but rulings and awards can be confidential. Hence, there could be a chance this would be the last time the public would hear about the Uber-Google war.