Uber's first product didn't break the law. Its black cars were legal.
UberCab's 2010 black-car service fell under California rules with no medallion requirement. The cease-and-desist objected to the word cab. The rule fight came later, with $20,000 citations in 2012 and a new legal category in 2013.
Transcript
The usual story is that Uber launched by breaking the rules. The record says its first product was legal all along.
In California, black cars fell under the state utilities commission, with no medallion requirement and no supply cap. Taxis were local, and capped by medallions. UberCab connected passengers with black cars that were already licensed.
In October 2010, UberCab got cease-and-desist orders from the city and the state. The city's objection was to the word cab, which implied taxi status. So Uber dropped Cab from its name and kept going.
The fight over rules came with the next product. In November 2012, the commission issued $20,000 citations to Lyft, Uber and Sidecar. In April 2013, Uber announced it would adopt the personal-vehicle model, after Lyft and Sidecar had obtained licenses.
On September 19, 2013, California created a new legal category for these services: the Transportation Network Company.
Before you assume a market is closed, find out who regulates which lane. Uber's first lane was already open. One case does not make every launch legal, but the opening is often in the fine print.
The records behind this video
Every figure in the video comes from this Decision Record, each with its sources.
Run this decision
The Distribution Rebellion Strategy Pack. “How much of the channel's margin do you actually keep?” The framework, a model, a deck and the sourced cases, for running the same call on your own business. See the pack, $499 →
