ANDERSON — A dispute over corporate intellectual property involving three brothers has become a courtroom food fight.
Indianapolis-based Darlington Farms and co-owner Phil Hockemeyer filed a lawsuit against Rubicon Foods LLC, a company founded by Hockemeyer’s younger brothers, Steve and Todd, and based at the Flagship Enterprise Center.
Both companies make easily digestible food products that are sold to health care facilities and nursing homes.
Darlington’s lawsuit claims that Steve and Todd Hockemeyer took proprietary information when they left Darlington and formed Rubicon in 2006.
Andrew McNeil, Darlington’s attorney, said Rubicon has refused to cooperate in the discovery process, which has been bogged down by the high volume of electronic files in dispute.
But Todd Hockemeyer said the proprietary information, which includes customer details and business plans, belongs to Rubicon because it dates back to the company his brother Steve incorporated into Darlington in 2002.
“We’re not fearful of the discovery process; we just want to limit it,” Todd Hockemeyer said. “We’re waiting for the wheels of justice to go through the process.”
Rubicon has filed a counter claim seeking thousands of dollars in unpaid compensation from Darlington and nearly a million dollars in lost revenues. Todd Hockemeyer said Darlington had used information garnered during the lawsuit to alter its products to closely resemble Rubicon’s product line.
The lawsuit has not affected Rubicon’s business, which includes distributing its baking products to nursing homes in about 40 states, Todd Hockemeyer said.
Phil Hockemeyer could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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