British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and others v Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and others, High Court
The High Court has ruled that a former employee of Sky took information relating to Sky’s customers from its databases. He had copied the information and supplied it to Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd (DSWC). DSCW then used the information for its marketing purposes. The High Court said that there was no other explanation as to how the information was obtained by DSWC.
The High Court ruled that the former employee was guilty of misusing Sky’s confidential information and infringing its database rights and he was found guilty of breaching the terms of his employment contract. The High Court also said that DSWC and its shareholders were guilty of breach of confidence, infringement of Sky’s trade mark and database rights, and also passing off as they had tried to make it seem to customers that they were in some way connected with or authorised by Sky.
When they thought the Sky was the limit when they took the data, they were obviously wrong.