Lyft and Uber Involved in Trade Secrets Case
by
Michael Lawrence Greenberg on Oct. 16, 2017
Summary: Ride sharing company Lyft Inc. is asking the courts to prevent their number one competitor in the ride service industry, Uber Technologies Inc., from accessing confidential information about its drivers.
Ride sharing company Lyft Inc. is asking the courts to prevent their number one competitor in the ride service industry, Uber Technologies Inc., from accessing confidential information about its drivers. This is the latest in a case involving a data breach that involved an estimated 50,000 Uber drivers.
In 2014 Uber found that their driver database had been accessed. This database is only accessible with a digital security key. A copy of the key was found on the code-development site GitHub, where it had been left by mistake.
A class action lawsuit was filed by an Uber drive over the data breach. Uber is after information regarding the breach, which they believe was made by a high-level Lyft employee due to IP address evidence that was associated with the security key when the breach occured.
Lyft claims however, that the IP address in question was not the one that committed the data breach into Uber and there is no evidence that any of its employees were involved in the hack. The Lyft employee, technology chief Chris Lambert, that was suspected of the breach has never been named in any documents filed in court.
According to court documents, Lyft is calling Uber’s demand for data access a “witch hunt” and would expose their internal and trade secret information to Uber. Lyft’s latest allegation regarding the incident is that Uber is currently using confidential and sensitive information and that Uber’s demands have become “abusive and harassing.”
Trade secrets and processes are a part of intellectual property. Companies depend on the creativity and innovation of their workers. Protecting those kinds of assets from competitors who want to eliminate fair competition is important. If you feel those assets may have been put at risk or even stolen without your permission or without proper licensing, protect your rights, by giving our law offices a call.
At Greenberg & Lieberman, LLC, we specialize in protecting the IP interests of our clients. We are on the front lines of internet IP protection defense. If your work is being used by a company for profit online, contact us today and find out how to protect your IP rights
