Automaker Smackdown: Hyundai vs. Toyota

So, you're Hyundai. You badly covet more market share in the US, and your targets are Honda and Toyota. What would be better than to hire a defector from the other team? It's even better when the defector brings along plenty of top-secret information to share. That's just what engineer Bruce Shibuya did when Hyundai nabbed him from Toyota and appointed him vice president of the Hyundai-Kia North American Quality Center. Little details like non-disclosure agreements must have been lost in the shuffle, as a tipster inside Hyundai alerted Toyota to the blatant theft and disclosure of trade secrets, which of course has led to a lawyer-fest. Shibuya's alleged brazen acts included giving Toyota-branded powerpoint presentations to Hyundai and copying binder upon binder of technical information, all handily marked "do not duplicate", and sending that information on to Hyundai HQ in Korea. Since Toyota's lawyers arrived on the scene, Shibuya has been terminated and Toyota has yet to file litigation against Hyundai.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Required]