Legal documents bound by rules of copyright

Legal documents bound by rules of copyright

Legal documents are bound by copyright, and any unauthorised duplication can be an infringement and a breach of confidentiality, according to the High Court.

In the case, three companies in the Aon Group, including London General Holdings (LGH), were found to have unlawfully breached copyright on an extended warranty document produced by the claimants, USP Strategies and Unicorn Strategies.

The document had been drafted by Isle of Man law firm Cooper Chan to make them particularly tax-efficient.

It had been seen by LGH when administering a scheme using them.

LGH later used the document to pitch for a contract against USP, which the latter won.

Judge Weeks said that by unlawfully copying an important technical document and disclosing it to a third party, the defendants had infringed the copyright assigned by Unicorn to USP, and had breached confidentiality.

He said: 'LGH wrongly appropriated the labour and skill of Cooper Chan (Unicorn's solicitors) and so infringed the copyright of Unicorn.'

Clive Thorne, an intellectual property partner at Denton Wilde Sapte who represented the claimants, said the case was 'extremely important' because it 'restated what the law is in regard to lawyers' work products'.

'The defendants argued that a trade practice existed within the legal community which entitled lawyers to look at their colleagues' documents and precedents,' he said.

'However, the judge roundly rejected this and stressed that documents prepared by lawyers are copyrighted documents.'

Individual phrases were almost impossible to copyright, he added, but the document as a whole in this case was drafted in a very distinctive and identifiable way.

An Aon spokesman said: 'It does not appear that Unicorn will be able to claim any damages...

At the conclusion of the proceedings, the judge said that it seemed to him to be a "long shot" for USP and Unicorn to demonstrate any pecuniary loss.'

Victoria MacCallum