When the Justice Department filed suit to block Deere & Company, the largest farm equipment maker in the world, from buying Precision Planting, owned by seed giant Monsanto, it said it was trying to preserve competition in sales of high-speed planters. One of Deere’s competitors, Kinze Manufacturing, claims Deere may be using the lawsuit to seek access to Kinze’s trade secrets.
Kinze filed a motion in federal court to block a subpoena from Deere that asks for information about marketing strategies, sales data and product development plans, said The Associated Press. It quoted the motion as saying, “Kinze should not be required to turn over its most sensitive confidential business information to Deere, simply because Deere holds the unsubstantiated belief that the information may be relevant to its litigation.” Kinze makes seed planters and grain carts.
“This request to Kinze is a normal part of the legal process, and other competitors have complied with similar requests,” said a Deere spokeswoman. The U.S. federal court in Chicago has issued an order to restrict access to Kinze’s material “to certain lawyers involved in the case,” she said, adding that the Justice Department also requested the information.