A US magistrate judge has ruled (PDF) that Uber lawyers can depose Alphabet CEO Larry Page, and perhaps Alphabet Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, in regard to Waymo's lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets.

Waymo, Google's self-driving car spinoff, sued Uber earlier this year, claiming that ex-Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski stole thousands of files while employed at Google. Uber has denied that any trade secrets ever made their way to Uber. Friday's ruling on the depositions is part of ongoing discovery in the case, which is scheduled for an October trial.

"Larry Page has first-hand non-repetitive knowledge of relevant facts," wrote US Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. "Further, less intrusive means, such as interrogatories, are not sufficient."

Waymo argued that no depositions of Google and Alphabet executives were necessary, and the company pointed out it has "no current intent" to call Page as a witness.

But Corley noted that Waymo hasn't ruled out calling Page, either. Page may be called to testify about conversations he had with Uber's ex-CEO, Travis Kalanick, about a possible partnership. She granted Uber lawyers up to four hours to grill Page under oath.

Corley also held that Uber has a right to depose Drummond, unless Waymo agrees that he won't testify at all during the litigation.

In a separate order (PDF) , Corley rejected Uber's attempt to get documents from competing ride-sharing company Lyft about its deal with Waymo, which was reported in The New York Times in May.

Since Uber will be able to get most of the relevant deal-related documents from Waymo, a separate subpoena to Lyft is unwarranted, Corley ruled. She granted Lyft's motion to quash (PDF) the subpoena.

Uber argued that Lyft may also have information about "industry practices" that "may be relevant to whether Waymo's purported trade secrets are in fact secrets."

"[T]he issue in this lawsuit is how Plaintiff [Waymo] treated its information, not how Lyft treats its information," wrote Corley. "Under that reasoning, Defendants [Uber and Otto] would be entitled to subpoena all technological companies to determine 'industry practice' in the treatment of technological information."

The relevance of the documents to the dispute don't outweigh the "confidential and commercial nature" of the Lyft documents that Uber lawyers want to see.

Corley, a magistrate judge, is overseeing certain aspects of discovery while the two companies speed toward an October trial. The litigation as a whole is under the auspices of US District Judge William Alsup.