Legal gag sought to silence former Goodyear employee

Goodyear Tire & Rubber is reported to have filed a suit against Continental Tire the Americas and aims to block Continental, via court order, from hiring one of its former managers. According to US industry publication Tire Review, Goodyear fears the former facility manager will take the company’s trade secrets with him and share them with Continental. The suit has been lodged with the United States District Court in the Northern District of Ohio.

According to the lawsuit, Goodyear seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction preventing Continental from using any information the former manager, David Young, supplies about Goodyear’s truck tyre production methods. It also wants Continental to pay damages for an alleged violation of the Ohio Uniform Trade Secrets Act by enticing Young to work for the company after being told that Goodyear would not waive Young’s confidentiality agreement.

Young was hired by Goodyear in 2002, and was involved in equipment and operational upgrades at its Topeka, Kansas, truck tyre 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.”

David Young tendered his resignation at Goodyear on May 3 and submitted a request for the company to waive his confidentiality agreement. Goodyear denied the request days later after learning Young would be employed as a manager at a Continental tyre plant in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. The lawsuit alleges that after Young informed Goodyear on June 8 that he had accepted a job with Continental, Goodyear sent Continental a letter a letter threatening legal action if it did not retract the employment offer.