Court of Appeal considers appeals in mosquito nets confidential information case

The Court of Appeal has ruled in a dispute about alleged breach of confidence relating to technical information contained in a database used for manufacturing mosquito nets. The court agreed with the High Court that a consultant, who was initially engaged by the claimants and who then worked with the defendants in developing their competing mosquito net product, had used recipes and test results in the database to devise the initial recipes for the defendants’ product. The court also agreed with the High Court judge’s refusal to grant an injunction against the defendants’ later-developed product, ruling that it was correct to take account of the differences between this product and the claimants’ recipes and to consider proportionality in considering whether to grant an injunction in light of the IP Rights Enforcement Directive (2004/48/EC).

Case: Vestergaard Frandsen A/S and others v Bestnet Europe Limited and others [2011] EWCA Civ 424.

Practical Law Update: 29.04.22