Nike is Suing Former Designers For Taking Secrets to adidas

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Complex Original

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Back in September, Nike took a major hit when three of it's top sneaker designers left the Swoosh to go work for adidas. Now, Nike is accusing the designers of stealing it's secrets and giving them to the Three Stripes.

Nike recently filed a lawsuit in Oregon, claiming at least $10 million in damages after former designers Marc Dolce, Mark Miner, and senior design director Denis Dekovic started consulting for adidas while they were still working for the Swoosh, violating their non-compete agreements. Nike's claim is that the three designers pitched adidas on a design studio, as well as bringing adidas information on Nike's plans for the next few years in their running, sportwear and soccer lines.

Nike believes that adidas' new Brooklyn Creative Design Studio is essentially a rip-off of the NikeLab or The Kitchen, which works on innovative and premium products. Who runs the new Brooklyn Creative Design Studio you ask? Marc Dolce, Mark Miner, and Denis Dekovic, so you could see why Nike thinks they stole the idea.

Another claim against adidas was that before the designers left, they copied sensitive design and business documents from their computers, including drawings for an unreleased shoe for one of it's signature athletes. When adidas was asked about how the company brings on talent, they said ""no interest in old work or past assignments."

It'll be interesting to see the fallout from the lawsuit, but as of now its not looking too good for Dolce, Miner and Dekovic. The suit claims that the three deleted incriminating emails and text messages to try and hide their tracks, but if there's not official evidence, can Nike win the battle? Let us know your thoughts on the situation, and keep it locked to Sneaker Report for all future news surrounding the lawsuit.

[Reuters]

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