Uber’s “technical friends” set out to disrupt Australia’s taxi app when the US company entered Australia’s car rental market and began operating illegal rideshare services, lawyers claim. .
Taxi Apps, which operates GoCatch, is suing Uber in the Supreme Court of Victoria, alleging that the ride-hailing giant knowingly and illegally launched UberX in Australia to harm GoCatch.
The company has also accused Uber of serious misconduct, including corporate espionage and hacking into competitors’ systems.
Uber denies claims that it has harmed GoCatch’s business and said it would “vigorously” defend the case.
Taxi Apps’ barrister Michael Hodge KC told the court on Tuesday about internal emails that showed Uber had tried to delay NSW authorities’ attempts to stop criminal activity.
When the NSW Roads and Maritime Services Authority issued a warrant to Uber at its Sydney office for non-compliance with the Passenger Transport Act, which has since been abolished, staffer Zac de Kievit (now a Melbourne solicitor) said his colleague “We hit the kill switch,” Hodge said. court.
The ride-hailing giant has since considered ways to prolong the process by holding on to documents requested by the government agency, and considering citing privacy laws as part of the discussion in cases where it’s not even clear whether there’s a connection. said Hodge.
“The available inferences are [pointing to privacy laws] “It’s a charade to obstruct the investigation,” he said in court Tuesday.
Hodge said Uber has also stepped up its political lobbying efforts and sought to increase the number of drivers in response to threats.
Court documents pointed to several media articles, including one written by Uber Australia’s then boss David Rothheim in support of the company’s local operations.
Mr. De Kievit effectively boasted that Uber was using its complex corporate structure to circumvent service demands, and executives repeatedly ignored advice from lawyers to produce documents. Hodge told the court.
The lawyers argued that it was clear that the ride-hailing giant’s goal was, at least in part, to “destroy” or “crush” GoCatch, in the words of its “tech associates.”
He pointed to an email from Rohrsheim in May 2013 in which he allegedly said launching UberX was his “ultimate goal.”
“But for now, taxis are where they are. We need to win that market to stop GoCatch from growing. [10 times] our active vehicles, and [two times] our weekly booking volume,” Rohersheim wrote, the court heard.
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An Uber manager allegedly wrote in an email: “The reason we’re starting taxis in Sydney is go catch. Fuck you.”
The court heard that Uber had developed a spyware tool called “Surf Cam” that stole data such as the names and phone numbers of go-catch drivers, and on July 31, 2013, Rohrsheim told colleagues: [without disclosing how we got their number] and won 56 games [GoCatch’s] driver. “
Hodge said in court there was no reason to think Uber stopped abusing GoCatch driver numbers after July 31.
Lawyers argued the ride-hailing giant launched luxury driver rental service Uber Black in Sydney in late 2012 and Uber Taxi in Sydney in 2013 in a bid to slow GoCatch’s momentum.
The problem, Hodge said, was that the company launched UberX, a peer-to-peer ride-hailing service, in New South Wales in April 2014.
Peer-to-peer ridesharing was legal in New South Wales until December 2015, and has since become legal in other states.
At the time, Hodge said, Uber refused to acknowledge the “absolutely obvious fact” that its drivers were acting illegally.
The lawyer acknowledged that GoCatch had management problems.
The civil trial before Judge Lisa Nichols is scheduled to last 10 weeks.
