Breach of Confidence Claims Upheld Against Former Employees Who Copied Confidential Information

Obtaining Confidential Information From a Previous Employer

There were five defendants in the case of Weiss Technik UK Ltd and other v Davies and others. Four were former employees of Weiss, and the fifth was a corporate defendant business that was set up by one of the former employees when he left Weiss.

The four individual defendants had obtained confidential information from Weiss, and had made that information available for use by the new company. The confidential information took the form of a number of pieces of software, including passwords to access it, and Weiss' customer database.

Each of the individual claimants had confidentiality clauses in their contracts of employment, and the staff handbook required all Weiss property to be returned to the company on the termination of employment.

High Court Finds Copyright Infringement By Previous Employees

The High Court held that Mr Jones (one of the individual defendants and the founder of the corporate defendant company) had procured breaches of contract by the other individual defendants. Weiss' copyright in its software was breached when it was downloaded from Dropbox onto the corporate defendant's operating system. The copyright was infringed even in circumstances where the download happened automatically as Dropbox synched with the new operating system. It was not necessary for the download to have been manually triggered.

In respect of breach of confidence, the High Court held that the fact the corporate defendant retained the confidential information was enough for the claim to succeed. There was no need for Weiss to prove that the defendants used the confidential information, or that Weiss suffered loss or damage, in order for the claim to be upheld.

 What Can Employers Learn From This Decision?

This is an encouraging decision for employers who are not obligated to show loss or damage as a result of confidential information being taken for the purposes of a competing business. It also acts as a useful reminder of the circumstances where a corporate defendant can be pursued in respect of an equitable breach of confidence.

For more information on breach of confidence claims, please contact Michael Delaney in our Employment Law team on 01923 919 316. Alternatively, please complete the form below.