Breach Of Confidence And Infringement Of Database Rights

Recent court decisions have cast further light on

the extent to which employers can use claims of database right

infringement and breach of confidence to restrain employees

from making unauthorised use of their business

information.

The High Court's decision in Crowson Fabrics Limited

v Rider et al exemplifies the protection that the

Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 (the

Regulations) can offer to employers where business documents

are copied by employees and used without consent upon

termination.

Former employees (X and Y) of Crowson had, during their

employment, copied confidential documents contained customer

and supplier details for use in setting up a rival business

(Z). The High Court held that the Regulations afforded database

rights in the copied documents and that Crowson was the owner

of these rights. For there to be an infringement of database

rights there must be extraction or reutilisation of a

substantial part of the contents of the database, without the

owner's consent (Reg. 16(1)). The judge held that the act

of transferring the documents to Z's computer constituted

extraction; the use subsequently made of the information was

irrelevant.

In Crowson, the copied information was not deemed

to be sufficiently confidential to lead to a finding of breach

of confidence against X and Y. The information was either in

the public domain or within X and Y's own knowledge.

However, in Sectrack NV v Satamatics Limited et al (a

decision to continue an interim injunction given the day before

the Crowson judgment) the judge felt that, where

employers restricted the...