CURIOSITY FROM THE WORLD OF DRUM MANUFACTURERS

ESPIONAGE, CONSPIRACY  UNFAIR COMPETITION with producers of drums?     

Does it exist?    ==>          Unbelievable, but true!

The parties involved: SONOR, TRIXON, "W." and a dismissed employee.
To be read in the following two  articles in German newspapers of 1956

Here you can read a short summary of the two newpaper articles in english:

After a ten-hour trial, the extended Berleburg Court of Aldermen sentenced a  drum manufacturer from Hamburg to a fine of DM 3,000 for an offence against the Competition Act. Two co-defendants from Wittgenstein also received fines for theft of trade secrets. 

What had happened?
A 29-year-old employee of SONOR was at risk to be dismissed for reason of rationalisation in autumn of 1954 .
So he stole the parts lists of materials required for production, supplier and customer lists as well as sales figures of all individual drum types.
Four days after his dismission, he sent a letter to six competing drum manufacturers, offering to sell his internal info and his abilities.
Only the company TRIXON gave a positive answer and invited the traitor to Hamburg for negotiations.
There, the former SONOR employee forwarded the stolen lists and told of an export order for 400 marching-drums for the military in San Salvador, which had been given to SONOR.
Since the owner and boss of TRIXON (called "W." in the newspaper article) had all the production lists and prices of SONOR, he then tried to make a cheaper offer.
Because TRIXON at that time did not yet produce any marching instruments,  "W." even drove to Meschede (about 50 kilometers next to the factory of SONOR) and negotiated the rental of an empty hall for the future production of the new drum types.
Finally, however, the order did not materialize, so that the plans of TRIXON were not realized. 

SONOR had filed a complaint in the meantime and the criminal investigation department investigated the case, which ultimately led to the above-mentioned court proceedings and verdict.

TROMSA was also written to as one of the six competing companies and did not respond to the unfair offer made by the former SONOR employee.

NOTE: Anyone who uses an Internet search engine can find out the identity of the accused and convicted owner of the Hamburg instrument factory TRIXON (named only "W." in the article) by  typing in "TRIXON" .

Article in newspaper "SIEGENER ZEITUNG" February 9th, 1956

Article in newspaper "WITTGENSTEINER RUNDSCHAU"  February 10th, 1956

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