On October 4, 2024, the Circuit Court for the County of St. Louis denied MiTek Inc.’s motion for temporary restraining order in an intellectual property case involving an engineered wood product (“EWP”) saw system. MiTek claimed that it owned the intellectual property for the Badger EWP saw that another company, ROGworx, LLC, built. The TRO motion attempted to prevent ROGworx and its principals from showcasing the ROGworx Badger EWP saw system at a tradeshow in Wisconsin beginning October 7, 2024, claiming that it would violate certain non-competition, non-solicitation, and confidentiality restrictive covenants. ROGworx and its principals opposed the TRO motion asserting that it was imperative for ROGworx’ business that it display and hold private face to face meetings with buyers at the tradeshow to market its ROGworx Badger EWP saw system and that the ROGworx Badger EWP saw system was functionally different from any intellectual property that MiTek owned.
After argument, the court denied MiTek’s TRO motion, reasoning that pursuant to the Dataphase[1] factors, any irreparable harm that MiTek would suffer without the TRO is outweighed by the harm ROGworx and its principals would suffer if the TRO was granted. Consequently, ROGworx and its principals will be able to feature its Badger EWP saw system at the tradeshow.
Cosgrove Law Group, LLC represented ROGworx and its principals at this TRO hearing. If you are a company or individual with questions regarding the enforceability of non-competition, non-solicitation, or confidentiality restrictive covenants under Missouri law, you may wish to consult with one of our experienced attorneys. Call us at 314-563-2490.
[1] Dataphase Sys., Inc. v. CL Sys., Inc., 640 F. 2d 109, 112 (8th Cir. 1981).