Abrahams v Biggs [2011] FCA 1475 (23 December 2011)
Confidential Information – disclosure of information regarding potential improvements to invention – whether use of information by recipient is a breach of confidence – whether ‘information’ or merely ‘idea’ – whether identified with sufficient specificity – whether information had necessary quality of confidence – whether circumstances of imparting information imported obligation of confidence
If there were ever a case to prove the hoary old chestnut that the person who acts as their own lawyer has a fool for a client, then this is it. Especially when they do so in a higher court, such as the Federal Court of Australia.
But we will return to the issue of self-representation towards the end of the article. Our interest in the case of Abrahams v Biggs, decided by Justice Jessup just before the holidays, lies not so much in the conduct of the parties before the Federal Court, but rather in the aspect of the dispute relating to an alleged breach of confidence. The case involves invention (and, peripherally, patent applications), and serves as a useful reminder that inventors need to be careful of what they disclose, to whom, and the circumstances in which they make disclosures, especially when potentially valuable ideas are involved.
And to add to the interest, the applicant in the proceedings, Tony Abrahams, was a winner in the episode of the ABC television program The New Inventors which aired on 20 May 2009.
Confidential Information – disclosure of information regarding potential improvements to invention – whether use of information by recipient is a breach of confidence – whether ‘information’ or merely ‘idea’ – whether identified with sufficient specificity – whether information had necessary quality of confidence – whether circumstances of imparting information imported obligation of confidence
If there were ever a case to prove the hoary old chestnut that the person who acts as their own lawyer has a fool for a client, then this is it. Especially when they do so in a higher court, such as the Federal Court of Australia.But we will return to the issue of self-representation towards the end of the article. Our interest in the case of Abrahams v Biggs, decided by Justice Jessup just before the holidays, lies not so much in the conduct of the parties before the Federal Court, but rather in the aspect of the dispute relating to an alleged breach of confidence. The case involves invention (and, peripherally, patent applications), and serves as a useful reminder that inventors need to be careful of what they disclose, to whom, and the circumstances in which they make disclosures, especially when potentially valuable ideas are involved.
And to add to the interest, the applicant in the proceedings, Tony Abrahams, was a winner in the episode of the ABC television program The New Inventors which aired on 20 May 2009.
