I am curious whether Jeremy reached out to ask for money first, or whether instead what happened is Cruise asked Jeremy to sign a waiver of rights and Jeremy wanted money to sign. I suspect it is somewhere between these variants. It does not make sense to me that Jeremy would just reach out "from the shadows" to demand a vig from this acquisition. If he did, and the alleged facts are true, shame on him.
But I wonder, how is Cruise concerned about Jeremy using their trade secrets if he never signed anything with the company? If they disclosed something to him when he was not an employee, and there was no NDA, then how is it a trade secret? Seems more likely that the acquirer saw Jeremy's name in diligence but without any signed NDA/Invention Assignment Agreement, and asked Cruise to close the gap by getting Jeremy to sign a waiver; then Jeremy asked for money to sign that (just speculating here). If this is how it went down, it's within normal bounds for Jeremy to request a payout. Maybe he asked for too much, but that is something that is purely a commercial dispute and I don't think deserves any moral outrage.
I may be missing something -- and probably am, having seen only this article and Cruise's complaint. But there is something that smells a bit off, when there's a rush to smear this guy using all the power of sama's fame, and the $ to hire a big lawfirm to terrorize the defendant into submission.
If GM legal team is like legal teams I worked with in big companies then Jeremy name will definitely surface. And GM will ask guarantees that Jeremy will not pop up after acquisition is finished.
Depending on the situation some lawyer might even suggest to Jeremy to be quiet till acquisition is finished and then the law firm will hit GM with lawsuit.
So I think Jeremy signature is needed for acquisition to go thru and he probably asks a little more $$ for his signature than Cruise investors are willing to fork.
But I wonder, how is Cruise concerned about Jeremy using their trade secrets if he never signed anything with the company? If they disclosed something to him when he was not an employee, and there was no NDA, then how is it a trade secret? Seems more likely that the acquirer saw Jeremy's name in diligence but without any signed NDA/Invention Assignment Agreement, and asked Cruise to close the gap by getting Jeremy to sign a waiver; then Jeremy asked for money to sign that (just speculating here). If this is how it went down, it's within normal bounds for Jeremy to request a payout. Maybe he asked for too much, but that is something that is purely a commercial dispute and I don't think deserves any moral outrage.
I may be missing something -- and probably am, having seen only this article and Cruise's complaint. But there is something that smells a bit off, when there's a rush to smear this guy using all the power of sama's fame, and the $ to hire a big lawfirm to terrorize the defendant into submission.