All big brands have confidential information about their developments. This allows them to stay competitive in the industry or have technological advantages over their rivals. As one of the biggest names in the industry, Google has many of these in its portfolio. In a recent development, Google is suing an ex-engineer for stealing and revealing secrets related to Pixel chips.
Google sues ex-engineer for leaking confidential data about Pixel chips
Harshit Roy, the defendant, appears to have a personal vendetta against Google. The lawsuit claims that the former engineer at the company has been disseminating threatening messages, occasionally accompanied by classified information about Pixel device chips. When sharing the confidential data, Roy tagged the accounts of rival companies like Apple and Qualcomm, “presumably to maximize the potential harm of his disclosure,” Google says.
“After an investigation, we found that this former employee stole numerous documents, and we’re pursuing legal action against them for the repeated and unauthorized disclosure of confidential company information,” said Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson. Harshit Roy worked with Google from 2020 to early 2024. In February, the former engineer resigned and moved from India to the United States.
The document filed by Google compiles some of the threatening content against the company. Phrases like “I need to take unethical means to get what I am entitled to” and “remember that empires fall and so will you” were read on his X/Twitter account. “Don’t expect me to adhere to any confidentiality agreement,” Roy said defiantly in another post.
The company is seeking financial compensation and a “cease and desist”
“This behavior is something we will simply not tolerate,” said the Google spokesperson. The Mountain View giant reportedly first tried to request the removal of the content. However, the defendant ignored the requests. The former engineer started his posts against the brand in October. Multiple media outlets have echoed the revealed secrets, increasing the potential damage.
With the lawsuit, Google seeks monetary damages for an unspecified amount and injunctions prohibiting Roy from continuing what he is doing. The company filed the case before a U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
This didn’t only affect Tensor chips
Tensor chips are one of the foundations of Google’s current smartphone business. The public does not place the highest value on Tensor chips, as some models have shown performance and thermal management below the competition. The company aims to improve this with its future move to TSMC factories. In fact, the Tensor G4 powering the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro has already improved a lot in both sections.
Anyway, there are more chips besides Tensor in Pixel smartphones. There is hardware that controls multiple other functions. For instance, the Titan security chips that continuously verify the device’s boot sequence among other functions.
