Nike is suing three of their former designers who left to work for Adidas
For many years, Nike has been the premier company in sportswear thus making competition a bit stiff for competitors. With the brilliant minds they have walking around campus over in “PDX”, Nike is known to make headlines for producing some of the most innovative sports performance items to hit the market. Although this is true, Nike is once again making headlines, but for something a bit different.
Earlier this week, Nike made it public that they were suing three former designers who left the company to go to Adidas and allegedly shared some of Nike’s secrets. It is now being revealed that designers, Denis Dekovic, Marc Dolce and Mark Miner were still employees at Nike when they replicated blueprints found in Nike’s production center labeled “The Kitchen.” Among taking the blueprint, Nike states that the designers took documents that included designs relating to the 2016 European Championships and plans for Nike-sponsored athletes. To make things even more bizarre, Nike believes that the three erased all their emails and “attempted” to leave no traces back them.
A statement from the designers was given to ESPN, read it below:
“We find Nike’s allegations hurtful because they are either false or are misleading half-truths,” the designers said in a statement provided to the Portland Business Journal by their law firm. “We did not take trade secrets or intellectual property when we departed Nike in September. The athletic footwear industry is fast moving and rapidly changing and, as creative people, we thrive on innovation and freshness. We are looking forward to bringing new and innovative ideas and designs to Adidas when our non-competition agreement expires.”
The lawsuit, filed against the former employees asks for $10million in damages and is still currently an on-going situation.
Personally, this situation means one thing for “us” consumers, and it’s “better products” will be on the horizon from both competitors. But with Dolce leaving to Adidas, who is going to be the creative designing Kobe or Lebron’s Kicks?? Talk sneaker politics with Drew on twitter @Drewtheabstract.
