It's a stark contrast from the protect-the-company-from-any-possible-contingency style most employment agreements are drafted in. Lawyers of the caliber Uber can afford don't make this sort of change accidentally.
It's clearly evidence that they anticipated a problem. I don't see any other way to spin it except that he covered himself because he knew there was a good chance he would be sued, and Uber, in its typical risk-hungry style, was willing to take the bet. Turns out it was a bad bet.
Clearly they had to be concerned about a Waymo suit even if Lewandawski was completely clean. Google was always suing.
Seems like smoke and mirrors. Classic lawyer speak as both sides say it bolsters their case. Mildly interesting tidbit but clearly not the big hunk of red meat either side is waiting for. Excited for the October trial.
It's a bigger deal than it appears. The indemnity means that if Anthony told Uber before the deal that he stole trade secrets from Google, then Uber indemnifies him - ie pays for lawyers and any penalties. But there's no protection for the criminal piece of this, and if Kalanick knew about the theft, then he just committed a crime too. Uber interviewed their employees and lawyers, and created a list of people who saw and knew about the stolen files. Uber wasn't able to interview Travis because he is still grieving over his family loss, but they are scheduled to speak in the next 5 days and will say whether Travis saw and knew about the stolen files.