2 ms·

> "Uber gets dealt an injunction on their self-driving car project. They have to start again, a long way behind other companies." How is this actually implemen

by acchow 10y ago

> "Uber gets dealt an injunction on their self-driving car project. They have to start again, a long way behind other companies." How is this actually implemented? How do you prevent a new project starting from scratch with the same employees from ending up with the exact same tech as before?

jimmywanger 10y ago
Pretty much the same way you could do it with any other manufacturing/industrial process. Imagine re-creating a fairly large complex project without access to any source control, build systems, or bug reports. It'd be easier than starting from scratch, but not much - especially for hardware, all the tradeoffs and manufacturing tricks you had to investigate and implement your devices would have to be recreated. Your end result would probably look similar, but the way you get there would be different. Just like the wings on an insect are different from the wings of a bird.
MikeTheGreat 10y ago
I'm neither a lawyer nor experienced in this sort of thing (thankfully! :) ), but I would imagine that Uber would have to throw out everything they've got now, fire all the employees that are currently working on the project, and then restart something from scratch. Sometimes, if a company want to clone a competitor's product they'll use a 'clean room protocol' - I imagine that Uber could do something similar here.
valarauca1 10y ago
How do you prevent a new project starting from scratch with the same employees from ending up with the exact same tech as before? You can't. I mean legally you can. But the court case to fully flesh this out are impossibly long. So safe to just not. The _former employee_ part is so damning that is just doesn't work. If you have separate employees you _can_, if you avoid patents. Look up clean room implementation.

2 ms·

> "Uber gets dealt an injunction on their self-driving car project. They have to start again, a long way behind other companies." How is this actually implemen

by acchow 10y ago

jimmywanger 10y ago
Pretty much the same way you could do it with any other manufacturing/industrial process. Imagine re-creating a fairly large complex project without access to any source control, build systems, or bug reports. It'd be easier than starting from scratch, but not much - especially for hardware, all the tradeoffs and manufacturing tricks you had to investigate and implement your devices would have to be recreated. Your end result would probably look similar, but the way you get there would be different. Just like the wings on an insect are different from the wings of a bird.
MikeTheGreat 10y ago
I'm neither a lawyer nor experienced in this sort of thing (thankfully! :) ), but I would imagine that Uber would have to throw out everything they've got now, fire all the employees that are currently working on the project, and then restart something from scratch. Sometimes, if a company want to clone a competitor's product they'll use a 'clean room protocol' - I imagine that Uber could do something similar here.
valarauca1 10y ago
How do you prevent a new project starting from scratch with the same employees from ending up with the exact same tech as before? You can't. I mean legally you can. But the court case to fully flesh this out are impossibly long. So safe to just not. The _former employee_ part is so damning that is just doesn't work. If you have separate employees you _can_, if you avoid patents. Look up clean room implementation.