Cartier sues Tiffany for stealing ‘high jewellery’ trade secrets on pieces that can sell for as much as US$10 million
- Cartier claims Tiffany stole trade secrets about some of its most exclusive luxury jewellery products from an employee it hired away
- Cartier claims its investigation into the case has ‘opened a window into Tiffany’s disturbing culture of misappropriating competitive information’
Cartier sued Tiffany & Co on Monday, claiming its competitor in the luxury jewellery space stole trade secrets about some of its most exclusive products from an employee it hired away.
Cartier, a division of luxury group Richemont, which also owns brands such as Van Cleef & Arpels and Piaget, sued Tiffany and Megan Marino, a former “junior manager” at Cartier, in New York state court.
According to the suit, Tiffany, which was acquired in 2021 by luxury group LVMH, hired Marino to work on its “high jewellery” collection, which includes individually made pieces that range as high as US$10 million in price.
Marino passed confidential information about Cartier’s own high jewellery business to her new colleagues in violation of a six-month non-compete agreement, the suit alleges.
Cartier claims its investigation into the case has “opened a window into Tiffany’s disturbing culture of misappropriating competitive information”.
