Deere sues two former employees over trade secrets
Deere & Co. filed suit last week in against two former employees for allegedly stealing trade secrets. The lawsuit claims the husband and wife downloaded, transferred and removed confidential information while planning their exits in violation of their contracts.
The defendants are and Adrian Crawford of Duluth, Ga.
The suit claims one defendant had started employment with Deere鈥檚 direct competitor. The lawsuit states Deere brought the suit to stop the defendant鈥檚 possession, disclosure and use of Deere鈥檚 confidential information.
According to the suit, Seth Crawford has been employed at Deere since 1997, with his last position being director, global customer and product support. Adrian Crawford had been employed by Deere since 2008. At the conclusion of her career she held the position of manager, enterprise and analytics accelerator.
The suit alleges her position also allowed her access to trade secrets.
Deere spokesman Ken Golden said, 鈥淭his legal action is in line with Deere & Co.鈥檚 commitment to our employees, shareholders, dealers and customers to always protect the company鈥檚 trade secrets and confidential information.
鈥淏ecause this matter is in litigation, we will not comment on the specifics of the case. However, we believe the details described in the U.S. District Court complaint accurately support our reason for bringing legal action in this matter.鈥