US court overturns ruling against Goodyear in self-inflating tire case

Akron, Ohio – A US court has cleared Goodyear of misappropriating intellectual property owned by Czechia-based Coda Development SRO.

In a verdict issued 31 March, Ohio district judge Sara Lioi said the 'trade secrets' that Goodyear was accused of stealing were ‘too vague to be legally protected.”

The decision reverses a jury verdict from last year, which found that Goodyear had misappropriated five of 12 'trade secrets' from Coda.

The jury, at the time, awarded Coda $2.8 million in compensation, while fining Goodyear $61.2 million in punitive damages.

The case dates back to August 2015, when Coda filed a lawsuit alleging that the Akron-based tire maker had misappropriated its self-inflating tire (SIT) technology.

In a statement on the latest ruling, Goodyear said the decision showed that “Coda disclosed no trade secrets to Goodyear and there was no misappropriation.”

“Our team of Goodyear engineers respects the intellectual property rights of others,” the US group also emphasised.