Facts: A solicitor and insurance salesman went into business setting tax minimization devices. The solicitor came up with the kernel, and the salesman marketed it. The two fell out, and the solicitor sued the salesman to stop for selling the devices.
Held (High Court): Found breach of copyright – since he wrote the deeds, and ownership had not passed to the partnership, it was his copyright. However, no breach of confidence – the solicitor couldn’t point to the part of the trust deed and identify what was confidential. The solicitor also couldn’t say the whole deed was confidential (because it wasn’t confidential).
Held (Mason J): The exhibit which the case concerned “was not a sufficiently precise definition of what was the confidential information which was to be the foundation of an action for breach of confidence...there is nothing in Ex B20 per se which gives any indication that it is information of confidential nature. It is merely a unit trust deed. In effect, there was no information of sufficient particularity to enable the Court to embody it in an order.‟