Sports apparel giant Nike has filed a $10 million lawsuit this week in an Oregon court against a trio of former designers for the company for allegedly giving away trade secrets to its rival, Adidas. According to the lawsuit, the designers began consulting Adidas while still under contract with Nike and violating their non-compete agreements.
The designers – Marc Dolce, Mark Miner, and senior design director Denis Dekovic – are said by Nike to have been planning the move to Adidas since last April and the switch was announced via a tweet from Dekovic in September. Nike also states that the design team stole the company’s innovative “Kitchen” studio design and pitched a similar concept to Adidas. The so-called Brooklyn Creative Design Studio is slated to open next year.
A spokesperson for Adidas has responded to the explosive allegations, saying that the company has “no interest in old work or past assignments” according to a report from Reuters.
More from Reuters:
Before leaving Nike, the complaint alleged, the designers copied sensitive design and business documents from their computers, including drawings for an unreleased shoe made for one of Nike’s sponsored athletes.
The suit accused the designers of trying to hide their tracks by erasing incriminating emails and text messages from their work-issued cellphones and laptops.
Nike also claimed that Adidas knew of the non-compete agreements and promised to pay for any legal fallout. The agreements barred the designers from any connection with Adidas during their employment and for one year after.
Dekovic, Dolce and Miner issued a statement regarding the lawsuit, which can be viewed over at Sneaker News.
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