Nike claims that three of its former star shoe designers stole a "treasure trove" of trade secrets when they left earlier this year to work for Nike’s rival, Adidas. Nike has filed a lawsuit in Oregon claiming that three of its former designers – Denis Dekovic, Marc Dolce and Mark Miner – conspired to set up their own design studio, then convinced Adidas to engage them with the promise to provide Adidas with insider Nike design details and product plans. Pretty sneaky. Sorry, we could not help ourselves.
Getting serious again, the three designers were all bound by non-compete agreements, but such agreements are difficult to enforce.