A former employee the defendant had copied contact information from the employer’s Microsoft Outlook into an Excel spreadsheet. It was not disputed that during the course of his employment the employee had himself added many names and addresses to the list.
Held: Justin Fenwick QC said this: ‘I am satisfied that where an address list is contained on Outlook or some similar programme which is part of the employer’s e-mail system and backed up by the employer or by arrangement made with the employer, the database or list of information (depending on whether one is applying the Database Regulations or the general law) will belong to the employer. I do not consider that the position will change where the database is accessed not from the employer’s computer but from the employee’s home computer by ‘dialling up’ or otherwise ‘logging on’ to the employer’s e-mail system by some form of remote access.
In all those circumstances, I find that such lists will be the property of the employer and may not be copied or moved in their entirety by employees use outside their employment or after their employment comes to an end.’
Fenwick QC Hhj
[2007] EWHC B5 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Fairstar Heavy Transport Nv v Adkins and Another CA 19-Jul-2013
The court was asked whether the appellant company was entitled to an order requiring its former Chief Executive Officer, after the termination of his appointment, to give it access to the content of emails relating to its business affairs, and . .
Cited – Fairstar Heavy Transport Nv v Adkins and Another CA 19-Jul-2013
The court was asked whether the appellant company was entitled to an order requiring its former Chief Executive Officer, after the termination of his appointment, to give it access to the content of emails relating to its business affairs, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Information
Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.253716