Law of Confidential Information

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law

The laws upholding a person's obligation to keep a secret or maintain [see page 5, confidentiality]. It's used to protect ideas and information (even when they lack a tangible form).

For example you can send your book to a printer to get it printed and you can trust that the printer won't keep the pages and sell more copies of your book without your consent.

Governed by case law not statute.

Conditions for Legal Protection

Information must possess the necessary quality of confidence.

It must be:

• Identifiable as certainly (not vauge) the claimants idea.
• Not already in the public domain (must be secret information).

For example make a night club that plays cool music is too vague to be protectable by the law of confidentiality.

Information must've been shared in circumstances imposing obligation of confidentiality.

Such as:

• Term in contract
• Implied due to relationship
  • A past employee cannot share trade secrets, but can share commercially sensitive information (unless their contract specifies they can't).
• Implied due to circumstances

Drunkenly blabbing a secret isn't sufficient to hold

An unauthorised use of that information.

Someone is using the shared information outside of the purpose in which it was shared. Eg. sharing the information somewhere else or insider trading.

Defences to an alleged Breach

• Claimant gave consent for information disclosure.
• Information already in the public domain.
• It's in the public interest to disclose. All society benefits. Eg. whistleblowing.

Remedies for a Breach

• Interlocutory Injunction
• Final Injunction
• Damages