Palace Sports, the owners of the Detroit Pistons and the Palace of Auburn Hills, has filed suit against nine former employees now working for Mike Ilitch and Olympia, saying trade secrets were stolen as the two organizations compete for sponsors and fans.
The lawsuit, filed in Oakland County Circuit Court, says the nine former employees jumped ship to Olympia after Tom Wilson, former Palace president and CEO, was hired by Ilitch to head operations at Olympia, which owns the Detroit Red Wings and operates Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park and Cobo Arena, among others. It alleges that the nine are using proprietary information and trade secrets from their Palace days to compete directly with the firm; two employees have already admitted they took account lists with them to new Olympia jobs.
There may be something to the lawsuit: all nine signed confidentialty agreements during their days at Palace.
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