'Sketchy' Business?: Inside the Nike/adidas Designer Lawsuit

The rivalry between Nike and adidas further heated over the summer when the ‘three stripes’ announced that it had acquired three of Nike’s most promising designers. What seemed like a power move for adidas was recently deflated though, when news broke that the Swoosh was filing a $10 Million USD lawsuit against the trio of Marc Dolce, Mark Miner, and Denis Dekovic. The details of the lawsuit have come to light courtesy of Co.Design, who outlined the grounds on which Nike makes its case. In summary: the trio allegedly promised its new employer the trade secrets of the Swoosh, copying road maps, design schedules, and even test-performance details and conducted transitionary conversations over their Nike-owned business phones. All this on top of the obvious non-compete clause that was breached. What seemed just weeks ago as a heroic coup of sorts now looks chipped of its gold plating, revealing a rather sketchy situation for the parties involved. Head over to Co.Design’s website to peruse a scan of the document, and stay tuned as more of the story unfolds.