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By Bloomberg

Nike Inc., the world’s largest sporting-goods maker, sued three former shoe designers, accusing them of taking trade secrets to Adidas AG.

In its complaint filed Dec. 8 in Oregon state court, Nike accuses the designers of stealing a “treasure trove of Nike product designs” along with research information and business plans. Adidas isn’t a defendant in the suit.

“Nike is an innovation company and we will continue to vigorously defend our intellectual property,” Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for the Beaverton, Oregon-based company, said in an e- mail.

Denis Dekovic, Mark Dolce and Mark Miner were hired by Adidas to lead a new venture, the Brooklyn Creative Design Studio, the Herzogenaurach, Germany-based company said in a Sept. 24 statement. Dekovic and Dolce are 20-year-veterans of the shoe design industry, Adidas said.

Adidas said in an e-mailed statement today that it “has no interest in old work or past assignments” of its new hires and is “focused on shaping the future of the sporting goods industry, not looking at what has been done in the past.”

The designers said in an e-mailed statement that they stayed “engaged, loyal and committed” to Nike to the end, and “would never do anything to harm” their former employer.

The case is Nike v. Dekovic, 14-cv-18875, Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, Multnomah County.

Secret Theft Charges Against Two Ex-Lilly Scientists Are Dropped

Charges against two former Eli Lilly & Co. scientists who were accused of transmitting the company’s secrets to a Chinese drug company were dropped, according to a court filing.

Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li were charged with trade-secret theft and wire and mail fraud in July 2013. According to court papers, the secrets related to therapies Indianapolis-based Lilly was developing to treat such conditions as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In light of the government’s “ongoing evaluation and assessment of the case,” the court should dismiss charges against both defendants “in the interests of justice,” the U.S. said in a Dec. 5 filing in federal court in Indianapolis.

Prosecutors said Lilly was notified of the dismissal request and didn’t object. No other details were given in the court filing.

The case is U.S. v. Guoqing Cao, 1:13-cr-00150, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis).

For more trade secret news, click here.

Cubist Loses Bid to Block Hospira Generic Version of Cubicin

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., the drugmaker being bought by Merck & Co. for $8.4 billion, lost a bid to block Hospira Inc. from offering a generic version of its top-selling Cubicin treatment for flesh-eating infections beyond 2016.

Four patents covering the drug, two of which expire in 2019 and two in 2020, are invalid because they don’t contain new inventions, U.S. District Judge Gregory Sleet in Wilmington, Delaware, ruled Dec. 8. Sleet upheld a fifth patent on the medicine, designed to combat skin infections caused by the bacterium including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Hospira, based in Lake Forest, Illinois, asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to sell a copy of Cubicin before the 2020 expiration of Lexington, Massachusetts- based Cubist’s patents, according to court filings. Sleet’s ruling may clear the way for such sales.

Hospira is “pleased with the favorable aspects of the decision,” Tareta Adams, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. The company “is considering its options including any appeals.”

Cubicin was approved in 2003 by the FDA for skin infections. The drug’s use was expanded in 2006 to include bloodstream infections.

Cubist said yesterday that Merck’s acquisition will be “unaffected” by the ruling in the patent case. “We feel strongly about our rights and intend to appeal the judgment,” Michael Bonney, Cubist’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The case is Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Hospira Inc., 12-cv-859, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Ex-Hunter Douglas IP Counsel to Pay $5 Million for Bogus Billing

The former intellectual-property general counsel for Hunter Douglas NV’s U.S. unit agreed to pay his former employer more than $5 million in restitution for falsely billing the company for outside patent searches.

When Hunter Douglas, a Rotterdam-based maker of window shades, discovered that its in-house IP general counsel and an outside patent-search firm he set up were one and the same, he was terminated, according to court papers. The company sued in June, accusing him of fraud and breach of contract.

In a stipulated agreement filed in Denver federal court, the attorney, Jason T. Throne, acknowledged that he set up Patent Services Group LLC and used it to bill Hunter Douglas for patent searches it “allegedly performed” from 2000 to April 2014.

Throne admitted he hid his relationship with Patent Services Group from Hunter Douglas, according to the agreement. At the time, he was in the position to approve payments to his own company, initially billing Hunter Douglas $150 an hour, eventually rising to $300, according to court papers.

Throne agreed to pay his former employer about $5.07 million, which includes $4.84 million for fraudulent invoices. The rest is related to a loan by Hunter Davis to Throne that became due immediately upon his termination.

The case is Hunter Douglas Inc. v. Throne, 14-cv-01807, U.S. District Court, District of Colorado (Denver).

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

French Wine Group Takes Critic ‘Champagne Jayne’ to Trial

An Australian wine critic who wrote as “Champagne Jayne” is set to go to trial Dec. 15 in Melbourne, in an infringement suit brought by France’s Comite Champagne, the Decanter reported.

Rachel Jayne Powell drew the ire of the trade organization of Champagne producers for using her pen name to write about other sparkling wines, allegedly threatening the fame and reputation of their potables, the trade publication reported.

The French group also demanded that she quit using Twitter and Facebook accounts under that name, according to Decanter.