Google sues former engineer for leaking Pixel chip secrets

In brief: If you’re going to reveal trade secrets, you might as well include some threats aimed at the company in question. A former Google engineer is alleged to have followed this questionable advice, posting secrets relating to the Pixel chip designs and including threatening comments. Unsurprisingly, Google is now suing him.

Indian semiconductor engineer Harshit Roy started working for Google in 2020 in Bengaluru after finishing university. His role involved assisting with the design, development, and deployment of SoCs used for Google’s Pixel line of products: smartphones, tablets, and wearables.

In August 2023, Roy started working on the next-gen SoC being designed for then-unreleased Pixel devices. Court documents state that Google became aware that he was taking photographs of information displayed on his work computer. It addressed the issue in December 2023, and Roy said he had removed the pictures from all his devices and sent Google evidence that the deletion had taken place.

Roy remained at Google until March 2024, when he resigned to attend a doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin. But Google says Roy took the work laptop he was supposed to return with him.

Soon after he left the company, Roy started posting confidential Google information on his X and LinkedIn accounts, including photos of internal documents with details about Pixel SoCs.

It sounds as if Roy wasn’t afraid of any potential consequences. He included lines such as “remember that empires fall and so will you” and “don’t expect me to adhere to any confidentiality agreement” in the posts. He even tagged Apple and Qualcomm in some of the posts, “presumably to maximize the potential harm of his disclosure.”

Roy is said to have signed a confidentiality agreement with Google in 2020.

Google said it sent Roy takedown requests and attempted to resolve the situation without judicial intervention, but Roy ignored the company, according to the suit.

The lawsuit states that Roy published a post on LinkedIn linking to a folder containing 158 photographs of internal Google files, including detailed information about the unique strengths of the SoC and specific concerns with Pixel smartphones that the SoC seeks to address.

Google tracked Roy down on the University of Texas campus to try to come to a resolution. As he continued to ignore his former employer, the case went to court.

Roy wasn’t too praising of Google during his time at the firm, publicly claiming that it encouraged lying and treats employees as slaves. His most recent LinkedIn post states, “A case that goes undefended does not count as a victory. I’ll see you in court soon. #Fraud.”

Google asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and to block Roy from using or sharing its secrets.