I realize that he's an asshole and his behavior was pretty egregious but as engineers we should not be happy about the precedent that this sets.
You must know this behavior is completely different than simply switching jobs?
His “new job” was a business he cofounded and ran, until he sold it to Uber.
No, getting sued and prosecuted for stealing trade secrets, using them as a basis for starting one business competing with the employer from which they were stolen, and then selling that business to another competitor of the one from which they were stolen.
Don't take physical files guys. Don't take digital files either. It's pretty simple.
If it's in your head, you're almost assuredly safe. Every prosecution I can find for the Economic Espionage Act has to do with physical files. For you to be the first charged for knowledge in your head (and not running afoul of an NDA, a patent, a non-compete, etc), you'd have to be even more egregious than this guy, and just as valuable. Good luck hitting that bar.