What are the different types of breach of confidence disputes?
A breach of confidence dispute can arise in two ways:
1. A person or business you have disclosed confidential information to in confidence uses that information or discloses it to another party without your permission.
2. A person or business claims you have improperly used information they say they disclosed to you in confidence.
Confidential information is not just limited to business sensitive information but any type of information so long as it is confidential. This cause of action is designed to protect the relationship of confidence between the party imparting the information and the party receiving that information. It does protect the information itself, although that is an outcome of this type of legal action.
What do I need to demonstrate to assert there has been a breach of confidence?
To show that there has been breach of confidence, the party asserting the breach needs to show:
- the information imparted is confidential and not in the public domain;
- the information was imparted in such a way that there was an obligation on the recipient of that information to keep it confidential; and
- the recipient of that information uses it or discloses it to another without authority of the confiding party.
What are my options for resolving a breach of confidence dispute?
There are two options for resolving a breach of confidence dispute, or a claim made against you by another party.
1. Breach of Confidence Dispute Resolution
While a strong litigation strategy might be the best approach in certain circumstances, often the preferable commercial outcome (particularly when defending a breach of confidence claim) is to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as negotiation or mediation to facilitate communication between the parties to reach a settlement to the dispute. If you are the party asserting against another that there has been a breach of confidence, we will prepare an appropriately worded warning notice or letter of demand to be sent on your behalf. If you have on the other hand received a letter of demand, we will provide you with clear advice on where you stand and develop an appropriate response to be sent on your behalf. In both instance these initial correspondences will then open the lines of communications between the parties (or their lawyers) which creates an opportunity to explore whether a settlement commercially favourable to you can be achieved in the early stages of the dispute. In the majority of cases, intellectual property disputes of this kind will settle without the need for legal proceedings being commenced. Our intellectual property lawyers have a strong track record of achieving commercially relevant and favourable results for our clients.
2. Breach of Confidence Litigation
While we always put in place strategies to explore settlement opportunities, sometimes the adoption of an aggressive litigation strategy is unavoidable and/or a necessary commercial strategy. At the start of any litigation we provide you with a clear roadmap showing you how a matter might unfold, with the timeframes and costs associated with each of those stages. We keep you informed of progress and fixed fees for every stage of the litigation process with what we call a Fixed Fee Litigation Structure. Also with our fixed fee project based approach it means you can take the matter in stages and retain certainty, control and transparency on your legal spend.
Our intellectual property lawyers have litigated in various jurisdictions including the Federal Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia and bring a wealth of intellectual property experience to devise the strategy best tailored to your needs and those of your business.
HOW CAN ACTUATE IP ASSIST?
It is vital that you obtain accurate, specialist advice on how best to deal with breach of confidence disputes and related intellectual property infringement claims for your particular circumstances. Actuate IP will work with you to manage the dispute resolution process and if necessary the litigation process. As a starting point we will invest time at the outset to understand the nature of your dispute and how it relates to your business and what your business wants to achieve from the dispute. With this understanding we will provide you with a detailed and considered Fixed Fee Proposal that provides you with initial recommendations and fixed fee options on how to approach the dispute in a way that will achieve the right outcome for you. You can then decide whether our firm will be the right fit for your business.