Earlier this week, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed the appeal and entered judgment against 3 respondents for breach of confidence. The Court of Appeal agreed that ownership of confidential information is not a relevant consideration. The equitable jurisdiction to grant relief for breach of confidence does not lie in proprietary rights. Rather, it lies in the notion of an obligation of conscience. A party who has received information in confidence shall not take unfair advantage of it. The same obligation of confidence is imposed even on a third party in possession of such information. The case was remitted back to the High Court for an account of profits and assessment of damages.

LHAG’s Intellectual Property team was retained as counsel for the appellant, with Lambert Rasa-Ratnam leading the appeal.

If you have any queries, please contact partners Lambert Rasa-Ratnam (lr@lh-ag.com) and Chng Keng Lung (ckl@lh-ag.com), associate Teo Kah Min (tkm@lh-ag.com), or the Intellectual Property Department (LHAGIP@lh-ag.com).