DRAFT Black Donuts welcomes appeals court ruling

Pirkkala, Finland – Tire technology consulting firm Black Donuts Engineering (BDE) has welcomed the outcome of an appeal court hearing on 19 June in a case involving former Nokian Tyre employees.

The Turku court of appeal, it said, ‘substantially reduced’ fines and sentences against the company, with no further business bans against Kai Hauvala, the founder and former CEO of BDE.

Ten BDE employees who had worked for Nokian were convicted of ‘violating and abusing" their former employer's secrets, in a Finnish court ruling in August 2017.

A Pirkanmaa court sentenced eight individuals to conditional imprisonment of 6-18 months. It also handed down fines totalling €837,500 to BDE and ordered it to pay over €600,000 in legal expenses to Nokian.

However, the appeal court ruled that the defendants "will not need to pay any compensation to Nokian Tyres or legal costs regarding the [appeal],” said Hauvala.

BDE’s corporate fine decreased from €300,000 to €100,000, he further pointed out.

The court of appeals also annulled two of the business prohibitions set by the Pirkanmaa district court.

A third business prohibition remained in force as a part a previous legal settlement, the BDE official added.