The Raptors and the team’s parent company, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, expressed surprise that the Knicks filed a lawsuit against them regarding alleged proprietary violations and issued a denial that the company was involved, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets via a Raptors press release.
The Knicks filed the lawsuit on Monday alleging that former employee Ikechukwu Azotam “illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to his new position” with the Raptors. Azotam, who was hired away by Toronto this offseason, allegedly shared the proprietary information with “several members” of the team, including head coach Darko Rajakovic and player development coach Noah Lewis.
“MLSE and the Toronto Raptors received a letter from MSG on Thursday of last week bringing this complaint to our attention,” Toronto’s response reads. “MLSE responded promptly, making clear our intention to conduct an internal investigation and to fully cooperate. MLSE has not been advised that a lawsuit was being filed or has been filed following its correspondence with MSG. The company strongly denies any involvement in the matters alleged. MLSE and the Toronto Raptors will reserve further comment until this matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”
The Knicks allege that not only did Rajakovic know what was occurring but that he “recruited and used” Azotam to help him build out the operations for his coaching staff, according to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Mike Vornukov and Eric Koreen.
The lawsuit alleges that the information Azotam forwarded to the Raptors included scouting reports, play frequency reports, a prep book, and a link to third-party licensed software. It also alleges that “Defendant Rajaković and the other Raptor Defendants recruited and used Azotam to serve as a mole within the Knicks organization to convey information that would assist the Raptors Defendants in trying to manage their team.”
The Athletic trio received a written statement from an MSG Sports spokesperson which stated that “we were left no choice but to take this action.”
That would be crazy if Darko got fired before he ever coached a game with the team.
If there is any truth to these allegations, then I’d say it’s almost a certainty. Shades of Beltran.
If the Knicks went this far, you have to assume it’s true, franchises like this won’t waste a judges time.
Not necessarily. Youd be surprised the atupid things sports franchies do sometimea.
This could be true.
Could also be true the dude took files but the parts about the raptors and coacb knowingly taking part could be false.
Could also be the case that the former employee took files they developed created. Knicks are claiming property rights. Former employee claims ownership rights.
Could also be a bunch of hogwash.
Time will tell.
@foxtrot – any creations or workings are the company’s IP unless otherwise agreed upon. Since this is a lawsuit stating such, I doubt the employee has any ownership rights whatsoever.
Yes, because the Knicks would never embarrass themselves by looking petty and vindictive and use the press to work their message into the mainstream minds of an audience too eager to lap up whatever drama they are selling.
That couldn’t happen.
I’m a big time Raptors fan but didn’t like the coaching hire at all. The guy just gave me a bad feeling. Just seemed kinda greasey. If its true, it’s a real bad look for the whole organization. I’m beginning to trust Masais judgement less and less all the time. Some real bad draft picks over the years, the teams been in decline with questions about their culture and then losing Freddy for nothing and seemingly not picking a clear direction of whether or not they want to compete for a title or not? Put something like this on top of it all and I’m beginning to think the Raptors may need to clean house and bring in new management.
Was he too frighteningly European for your taste?
“Greasy” – really?
Darth you sound like someone that knows absolutely nothing about what they’re talking about.
maybe Dolan is still pissed about Bargnani?
all jokes aside, this is a bad look for the raps’ brass if there is any modicum of truth to it. that said, the supposed mole (if allegations prove to be true – in any capacity) will probably get labeled a ‘rogue actor/lone wolf’ and made a scapegoat.
Imagine stealing intel from the Knicks lol
This is a whole lot of hyperbole…
There is a lot to prove here, and I haven’t seen, or heard an ounce of quality evidence of this fact shared in public.
I think the Knicks end up fairly empty handed short of an NSA, or Secret Service cell phone hacking.
Getting into the personal internet history of an individual’s personal email, phone, or computer requires a lot of red-tape, and proof.
I don’t think this gets very far as an accusation.
Probably happened though, its sports, and everyone is looking to cheat… I mean compete
The hoopsrumors.com attorney has spoken with out Reading the full lawsuit. This happened in baseball and some people went a person.
Astros was a different situation entirely…
More hyperbole doesn’t help if actually discovering what occurred was truly a violation of contractual policy/patent law/intellectual property law, or not.
You don’t read a “full lawsuit” until the court has ruled, and all appeals have been denied.
So, at this stage it is legal hyperbole alleging such, and such.
Maybe it has standing, and maybe it is groundless?
Competition is high in the pro’s wouldn’t have an opinion until I knew the precise details which are not public record yet.
Even then, the details will be whatever either side wants seen by anyone else.
So, it is far from a truth finding mission in my opinion.
Attorney’s are mostly scum, but I do study, and research the law.
Obviously you don’t, and wouldn’t know the difference. Not sure why the insult was necessary to ask me for clarity? Because your comment was off-base, rude, and little ignorant if conversation is what you seek.
“Getting into the personal internet history of an individual’s personal email, phone, or computer requires a lot of red-tape, and proof.”
Not at a work site. Employees have no expectations of privacy for the use of their work computers. The employee emailed thousands of documents from his corporate email to his personal email.
Corporate cyber security software can track who opens what file at what IP address, and if you read the filing, it’s really damning, they have the whole thing. They know the dates that Raptors coaches opened the Knicks Sharepoint Site (using the employee’s credentials) and that documents were downloaded 2000 times plus. They know when the zip files were unpacked and where. They know that it happened in the two months between when the Raptors first made contact and the time he left.
There’s enough in the filing to know this is much more than hyperbole. You are underestimating the capabilities of corporate anti-espionage software.
You are reading the complaint by the Knicks which is vague at this stage, and whatever grit, or evidence the Knicks have has not been shared yet, and maybe never will be publicly.
I am aware of software, and I am aware of at work computers.
I am assuming this issue is about account access, and not a work place, or company owned computer. (There is no computer) corect me if I am wrong, but isn’t this why its the Knicks suing the Raptors?
So, yes there will need to be a warrant to hack into a personal email account of said employee unless the Knicks can provide evidence to the court that would grant this access during the back, and forth of court room litigation.
My contention is about personal email account access not a knicks owned computer…
If it was, then it would be simple like you claim.
What you’re saying is said employee used Knicks computer to download to his personal email proprietary work files. Then months, or years later when hired by the Raptors, gave access to Raptors coaches to his personal email, or where said files are stored correct?
I go over court cases that have meaning, or importance in law for fun, so all I’m saying is this is a general complaint at this point, and any pertinent details, or conclusion is very hard to draw without hearing the counter evidence, and argument.
Like… If this is about a personal email then how would, or why would Raptors coaching be accessing the corporate credentialed log-in site repeatedly?
Wouldn’t they have their own files to access because said employee sent the files from their personal email to the Raptors coaching?
Like I said this is a complaint from the knicks. There will be more, or less to this after the courts have decided, and heard counters from the Raptors.
Whether this is about giving passwords to intellectually protected software, or about downloading intellectually protected information to a personal email account from a knicks owned corporate computer, we will find out, but only after this case, and appeals are exhausted unfortunately.
Read the filing, You are guessing. It was filed in the Federal Court of the Southern District of NY. A lawyer such as yourself ought to be able to get the filing easily and answer a lot of your own questions.
“”we were left no choice but to take this action.” because we have taken no other actions to win in years. we lost all our secrets for drafting, winning and putting a good product on the floor.”
What can the Raptors learn from the Knicks?
How to cut costs in order to run a perpetually mediocre NBA team?
The stuff he’s alleged to have “stolen” was probably stuff he specifically worked on/prepared. If that’s the case, and the Knicks are claiming impropriety based solely on ownership of the materials because it was developed while he was an employee, that would be lame. There’s employee movement at every level of the league, and part of the reason employees get hired by other organizations is because of the knowledge and expertise they acquire while working for other teams/employers. James Dolan is a horrible human being, and that has always permeated the Knicks corporate structure, so I will reserve judgment that tars and feathers a former employee just trying to secure new employment until evidence of something truly egregious comes out.
Not the way employment contracts work, unfortunately. Work for hire is work for hire, and 100% belongs to the employer. This is a pretty deliberate violation of these type of contracts.