ABSTRACT
Confidential information is the riskiest form of intellectual property in which to deal because of its nature. There is no registered right to evaluate or assess. It is not like patents, copyright or designs where a particular ‘thing’ is afforded protection. Rather, know-how or certain information is valuable precisely because it is confidential and not in the public domain. The extent of the confidential information or know-how is usually difficult to establish with certainty. In the UK, an action for breach of confidence may lie in equity, or contract or at common law. The legal doctrine of confidential information is a set of principles developed over centuries by the courts. It is the application of those principles to particular fact situations which determines whether the information is confidential or not. To achieve fairness, broad legal principles have been developed to permit considerable flexibility. The fundamental legal principle that forms the underlying basis of the law of confidence is that a person who has received confidential information from another will not take unfair advantage of it or profit from the wrongful use or publication of it.
