Harshit Roy, who used to work for Google India, in Bengaluru, has been sued by Google for letting out trade secrets pertaining to its Pixel devices that are yet to be released. Roy has reportedly leaked details about the proprietary hardware and software used for Pixel devices on social media.
With much difficulty Google managed to catch hold of Roy having tracked him down to Austin, Texas. Considering that Roy remained undeterred and even refused to take down whatever he had published and exposed, his crime is quite serious. Not only did he disseminate confidential information causing grave harm to Google, but continued to do so even after being warned. He went on to post an image of his laptop (which he used while working for Google) on social media, carrying the picture of an internal document containing technical details for the processing chip that is used in the Pixel smartphone. The caption for the post clearly reflected his blatant disregard for the confidentiality agreement with Google. He went on to suggest in his post that he was willing to reveal more information should anyone want it. That isn’t all, Roy copied the post to Google’s rivals in the smart devices space.
Not surprisingly, his act prompted Google to get an external investigator to deliver a ‘cease and desist’ notice to Roy. Google has demanded that Harshit Roy cooperate to resolve the issue by returning the secret information and removing it from his social-media account.
Harshit Roy has been charged under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) as well as the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA).
