The Rockingham County, New Hampshire Superior Court granted a preliminary injunction preventing former Bauer Nike Hockey employee Gaetan Champagne from “working on any aspect of skate research and development at Mission for six months from the date of his resignation, namely until January 18, 2004.”
On July 18, Champagne resigned from Bauer Nike Hockey to work with Mission Hockey as director of research and development. Bauer Nike Hockey filed suit to prevent Champagne's immediate employment by Mission in this capacity, as a non-disclosure agreement was in place between Champagne and Bauer Nike Hockey.
“One of Bauer Nike Hockey's main competitive advantages is the unparalleled work being produced by the research, design and development team,” said Mark Loomis, Vice President of Legal Affairs and Human Resources at Bauer Nike Hockey. “The confidentiality agreement signed by Mr. Champagne is clear, concise and meant to protect this company, which is why we felt it was critical to enforce.”
The court found that as a Senior Skate Developer and Product Development Manager at Bauer Nike Hockey, Champagne was regularly involved with and exposed to confidential/trade secret information regarding the development of skates, manufacturing process, marketing plans and future skate designs.
The Court then ruled, “with the foregoing in mind, the Court adopts the inevitable disclosure doctrine, which allows Bauer Nike Hockey to prove a claim of threatened misappropriation of a trade secret by demonstrating that Champagne's new employment will inevitably lead him to rely on Bauer Nike Hockey's trade secrets … The application of the foregoing factors to this case shows Champagne will inevitably disclose Bauer Nike Hockey's product development information as Mission's Director of Research and Development.”
