Nike sues former senior shoe designers

Sportswear giant Nike has filed a lawsuit against three of its former senior shoe designers, accusing them of stealing the company's commercial secrets and joining German rival Adidas, which announced in September that the new staff members - Denis Dekovic, Marc Dolce and Mark Miner - would lead its new urban footwear design studio in Brooklyn.

The lawsuit, filed in Oregon where Nike has its headquarter, claims at least 10 million US dollars in damages. The sportswear giant stated that the former designers started consulting for Adidas while still working at Nike, thus violating their non-compete agreements, which bar the designers from working for Adidas or any other competitor during their employment and for one year after. Nike also claims that Adidas knew of these agreements and promised to pay for any legal fallout.

The three designers are also accused of stealing "a treasure trove of Nike product designs, research information and business plans" and trying to hide their tracks by erasing incriminating emails and text messages from their work-issued cellphones and laptops. The confidential material includes drawings for an unreleased shoe made for one of Nike's sponsored athletes.

New design studio based on Nike's 'Kitchen'

Nike also claims that Adidas' new design studio was their former designers' idea, simply coyping the company's own design lab, which is called the Kitchen, and that it would use Nike's plans for the next few years in its running, sportswear and soccer lines that the designers shared with Adidas illicitly.

Adidas claims its new studio, called Brooklyn Creative Design Studio, is aimed at exploring new design directions and developing new brand concepts. “This facility will be an open-source creative center allowing us to connect and collaborate with consumers in a way we've never done before,” said Adidas global creative director Paul Gaudio in a statement in September.

In response, an Adidas representative iterated that the company attracts top talent and has "no interest in old work or past assignments". The designers have since defended themselves against the allegations in a statement posted by Dekovic on Twitter, claiming the allegations to be "either false or misleading half-truths".

A spokesman from Nike declined to comment further but promised the company would protect its intellectual property "vigorously".

Photo: Nike innovations