Revere Transducers, Inc. v. Deere & Company

Revere Transducers, Inc. (Revere) (plaintiff) manufactured and sold force transducers, which measured force. One of Revere’s proprietary products was the trademarked Gozinta. Revere had confidential and technical information related to the Gozinta, including drawings of the device that were always stamped to indicate that they could not be disclosed or reproduced without Revere’s written permission. In the mid-1980s, Deere & Company (Deere) (defendant), a tractor manufacturer, became interested in installing a force transducer onto Deere’s tractors as a sensor. Deere and Revere decided to use the Gozinta on Deere’s tractors. The companies worked jointly on the project for several years; issues frequently arose with modifying the Gozinta to work successfully as a sensor. Francis Delfino and Greg Eckart were employees of Revere, assigned to work with Deere. Upon employment, both men had signed Revere’s nondisclosure agreement (NDA), in which they agreed not to disclose any inventions or discoveries they made during their Revere employment and not to disclose “technical information other than that generally published and available to the public” and other confidential information related to the business. In the late 1980s, Revere was acquired by another company, and Delfino and Eckhart became worried about their jobs. The men arranged meetings with Revere personnel and offered to make a modified version of a Gozinta-like device for Deere—one that was welded rather than pressed. Revere was interested. Delfino and Eckart formed their own company, and on March 12, 1989, they presented a letter and drawings to Deere with a cost estimate and an idea for a sensor. The drawings contained pictures of a welded sensor that looked similar if not identical to the Gozinta. Deere agreed to purchase the sensor, and both men resigned from Revere. Upon discovering these events, Revere sued Deere for tortious interference with contractual relations, among other claims. Revere argued that Deere had caused Delfino and Eckart to breach their employment agreements. A jury agreed and returned a verdict for Revere on the tort claim. Deere appealed, arguing that Revere’s NDA was not enforceable because it was overbroad.