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Are there truly that many Lidar-related trade "secrets" that Google knows about that suppliers and competitors at Velodyne, SPIE, ex-military researcers, etc. don't already?

If Levandowski is targeted by federal prosecutors, can he argue inevitable discovery based on existing public domain principles and papers (textbooks, etc.)?

I find it hard to believe that Google is the only innovator in Lidar thus far. It just seems like they are because it's now cool.

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The Preliminary Injunction order from earlier this month basically agreed with you and said many of Waymo's trade secret claims are probably overbroad and won't hold up.

But, the court said, it looks very much like Levandowski did take Waymo's files and use them at Uber, and the files "likely contain at least some trade secrets." So, basically, even if these are weak trade secrets claims and there aren't that many secrets, Uber and Levandowski have looked so bad on the question of whether they stole them that the Court was willing to say "fire him or else."

Here is that order if you're interested: https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/download.html?id=244394038... See pages 11-17.

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