Judge Rules Wyko/Goodyear Case Photos Must Be Viewed in Camera
A Knoxville federal magistrate judge has ruled that pictures at the centre of industrial espionage case linking Wyko and Goodyear must be viewed “in camera” to protect the interests of those involved. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that US Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley has approved federal prosecutors' request to keep the seven mobile phone pictures allegedly taken at Goodyear’s Topeka, Kansas OTR plant in May 2007 by Wyko Tire Technology employees Clark Alan Roberts and Sean Edward Howley secret.
Roberts and Howley are accused of visiting The Goodyear plant under false pretences, covertly using their mobile phones to take photographs of proprietary equipment and sending these to Wyko’s Dudley, UK. These photos were then allegedly used to complete a “similar piece of machinery” for China’s Haohau South China Guilin Rubber Company Limited. The photos reportedly depict Goodyear’s proprietary “Swab Down System” which is used in the production of giant earthmover tyres to wrap rubber around a cable.