Google has filed a lawsuit against Harshit Roy, a former employee, accusing him of leaking sensitive information about the company's chip designs. The lawsuit, filed in a Texas federal court, alleges that Roy, who worked as an engineer at Google from 2020 to 2024, disclosed confidential details about Pixel processing chips on social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.
According to the complaint, Roy captured internal documents containing proprietary chip specifications before resigning in February 2024. After leaving Google, he moved from Bangalore, India, to Austin, Texas, to pursue a doctoral program at the University of Texas.
The lawsuit claims that Roy:
- Shared these confidential documents publicly, violating his confidentiality agreement with Google.
- Posted statements such as, “Don’t expect me to adhere to any confidentiality agreement,” and “Empires fall, and so will you,” along with images of internal documents.
- Ignored multiple takedown requests from Google and continued posting proprietary information online.
- Tagged competitors like Apple and Qualcomm in some of his posts, allegedly drawing attention to the leaked information.
Google asserts that the leaked materials contained trade secrets critical to its operations. The disclosures reportedly led to media outlets publishing stories based on the leaked information, further exacerbating the breach.
Jose Castaneda, a spokesperson for Google, emphasized the company's commitment to addressing the situation. “We discovered that this former employee unlawfully disclosed numerous confidential documents. We are pursuing legal action to address these unauthorized disclosures, as such behavior is completely unacceptable,” Castaneda stated.
Google is seeking:
- Monetary damages to compensate for the breach.
- A court order to prevent Roy from further distributing or using the leaked information.
As part of the legal proceedings, a judge issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, prohibiting Roy from sharing additional proprietary details. Google argues that such measures are necessary to:
- Protect its intellectual property.
- Maintain trust within its operations.
This case highlights the ongoing challenges faced by companies in safeguarding trade secrets, especially in highly competitive industries like technology. As the legal battle unfolds, it is expected to shed light on the legal and ethical boundaries of confidentiality agreements and the potential consequences of breaching such agreements in the tech industry.
