Appeals Court rules against Sioux City company in trade secret case

The Iowa Court of Appeals has rejected a Sioux City company’s request that two former employees be permanently barred from selling a competing product. The case centers around the concept of trade secrets.Rocklin Manufacturing in Sioux City makes the MoldMender, a welder used to repair steel molds for plastics. Two former Rocklin employees, Wayne Tucker and Michael Willer, developed something in their off-time they call the KwikWeld that does the same thing, only in a slightly different way. Rocklin accused the two of stealing trade secrets and asked the courts to permanently bar the sale of the KwikWeld. A district court ruled the two should be prohibited from advertising in the magazines or going to the same trade shows that Rocklin attends for 10 years. The two men appealed that decade-long sentence, calling it excessive. The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the lower court’s ruling, so the two men will be able to sell their product, but will not be allowed to market it in places they learned about when they were employed at Rocklin.