Do Service Providers Have A Lien Over Data?

In the case of Your Response Ltd v Datateam Business Media Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 281 the English Court of Appeal tackled the rather technical legal question of whether a common law lien could be exercised over an electronic database.

In general terms, a lien permits someone to hold the property of another as security until an outstanding debt has been cleared. For instance, this might occur where someone drops a suit to a dry cleaner but has yet to pay the charge for cleaning. The courts have traditionally taken the view that a lien can only arise over tangible property (i.e. goods), but not over intangible property (i.e. data or intellectual property rights). In this case, the Court had to decide which of those categories best suited the contents of an electronic database.

Background

Datateam Media Business Limited ("Datateam") publishes a number of magazines which are distributed to subscribers. It engaged Your Response Limited ("Your Response") for the purpose of managing its electronic databases to ensure that the information they contained was up to date.

The contract...