Re:Levandowski agrees to plea deal over Google secrets
by earthtourist on Saturday March 21, 2020 @12:49PM
(#22647814)
Our legal system does usually involve "proving damages".
Obtaining autonomous vehicle IP is not equivalent to having autonomous vehicle product in the market.
As an example: Boeing could almost certainly publish all of the IP for the 787 jet and not risk spawning a single legitimate competitor. Very few organizations in the world could do anything with it.
What's truly valuable to a Google or Boeing is their financial, engineering, manufacturing, and operations resources. And other less tangible things.
Which is why severe punishment for illegally copying IP doesn't make a lot of sense. Yes, it should be illegal and should be stopped, but it's not that big a deal in most cases.
It just seems like a big deal because "tHey StolE tHe SeCreT cOdEs!" as if it's a James Bond movie.
It's a case of confusing the golden goose with the golden eggs.
Obtaining autonomous vehicle IP is not equivalent to having autonomous vehicle product in the market.
As an example: Boeing could almost certainly publish all of the IP for the 787 jet and not risk spawning a single legitimate competitor. Very few organizations in the world could do anything with it.
What's truly valuable to a Google or Boeing is their financial, engineering, manufacturing, and operations resources. And other less tangible things.
Which is why severe punishment for illegally copying IP doesn't make a lot of sense. Yes, it should be illegal and should be stopped, but it's not that big a deal in most cases.
It just seems like a big deal because "tHey StolE tHe SeCreT cOdEs!" as if it's a James Bond movie.
It's a case of confusing the golden goose with the golden eggs.