Google sues Pixel engineer who allegedly posted trade secrets online
Google filed a lawsuit last week against an Indian semiconductor engineer for allegedly posting trade secrets related to its Google Pixel chip designs online.
Legal action was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas alleging the engineer, Harshit Roy, engaged in "misappropriation of trade secrets."
According to his LinkedIn profile, Harshit Roy worked at Google for nearly four years beginning in 2020 in Bengalaru, taking the role as his first post-university career step.
His role, according to court documents [PDF], made him responsible for assisting with the design, development, and deployment of unreleased next-generation system-on-chips used on Google's Pixel devices – including smartphones, tablets and wearables.
Google stated that it became aware that Roy had collected photos of its trade secrets in December 2023 and addressed the issue, resulting in Roy agreeing to delete all pictures and send evidence of their destruction.
Somehow, despite all this, he remained employed until March of 2024. He resigned to attend a doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin.
