Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. filed suit against Continental Tire the Americas seeking a court order banning CTA from hiring a former manager.
Goodyear, which filed the action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, fears the former facility manager would steal trade secrets and share them with CTA.
Goodyear wants a preliminary and permanent injunction preventing Continental from using any information David Young has provided about Goodyear’s truck tire production methods. And it wants CTA to pay damages for an alleged violation of the Ohio Uniform Trade Secrets Act by enticing Young to work for them after being told that Goodyear would not waive Young’s confidentiality agreement, according to the lawsuit.
Young was hired by Goodyear in 2002, and has been involved in equipment and operational upgrades at its Topeka, Kan., truck tire plant. According to Goodyear, “Young had access and knowledge of Goodyear’s sensitive, confidential and proprietary information. Because of the value of this information, Goodyear has undertaken reasonable measures to maintain its secrecy.”
Young put in his two weeks notice at Goodyear on May 3 and submitted a request for Goodyear to waive his confidentiality agreement. Goodyear denied the request days later after learning Young would be working as a manager at a Continental tire plant in Mt. Vernon, Ill.
After Young informed Goodyear on June 8 that he had accepted a job with CTA, Goodyear sent a letter a letter to CTA threatening legal action if it did not retract the employment offer, according to the suit.
