Rapid Metal Developments (Australia) Pty Ltd v Anderson Formrite Pty Ltd

In the case of Rapid Metal Developments (Australia) Pty Ltd v Anderson Formrite Pty Ltd, the dispute centered around the duty of confidentiality owed by an expert witness who provided engineering advice to a party in the proceedings. The issue before the court was whether the expert witness's duty of confidentiality extended to the information that they had provided to the party, and if so, whether there had been a breach of that duty by the party using the information for their own benefit.

The court considered the established principles regarding the obligation of confidence and the protection of confidential information. The court noted that the basis for the exercise of equitable jurisdiction in such matters lies in the obligation of conscience arising from the circumstances in or through which the information was communicated or obtained. The duty to preserve confidentiality is unqualified and extends to not only preventing the communication of the information to third parties but also to preventing any misuse of the information without the consent of the former client.

The court found that in order to make out a case for protection in equity of allegedly confidential information, the plaintiff must be able to identify with specificity the information in question, show that the information has the necessary quality of confidentiality, demonstrate that the information was received by the defendant in circumstances that import an obligation of confidence, and establish that there is actual or threatened misuse of that information without the consent of the applicant.

In this case, the court found that there had been a breach of the expert witness's duty of confidentiality by the party using the information for their own benefit. The court granted an injunction restraining the party from using the confidential information and ordered the party to pay damages to the expert witness for the breach of their duty of confidentiality.