Missingham v Shamin [2012] NSWSC 288

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Missingham v Shamin [2012] NSWSC 288 Hearing dates: 16 March 2012 Decision date: 21 March 2012 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Ward J Decision: Permanent injunction granted to restrain defendant from breaching confidentiality obligations. Nominal damages and indemnity costs ordered against defendant Catchwords: CONFIDENTIALITY - deed containing confidentiality provision - whether plaintiff disentitled to assert confidentiality due to unclean hands - whether disclosure of some terms of the deed due to ordinary legal processes such as filing a Notice of Discontinuance in court destroyed the confidentiality of the material - whether posting of judgment containing some terms of the deed in the NSW Caselaw website destroyed the confidentiality of the material - whether material entered public domain a matter of fact and degree - limited disclosure in these circumstances does not deprive the confidentiality provision of utility - HELD - permanent injunction granted and plaintiff entitled to costs of these proceedings on indemnity basis pursuant to relevant provision in deed Legislation Cited: Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) Cases Cited: AG v Guardian Newspapers (No 2); AFL v The Age Co Limited (2006) 15 VR 419 Artedomus v Del Casale [2006] NSWSC 146 Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd [No 2] [1990] 1 AC 109 Black Uhlans Inc v NSW Crime Commission & Ors [2002] NSWSC 1060 Brand v Monks [2009] NSWSC 1454 Carantinos v Magafas [2008] NSWCA 304 Dalgety Wine Estates Pty Ltd v Rizzon (1979) 141 CLR 552 Doherty v Allman (1878) 3 App Cas 709 Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick 210 CLR 575 Evans Marshall & Co Ltd v Bertola SA [1973] 1 WLR 349, at 379; [1973] 1 All ER 992 G v Day [1982] 1 NSWLR 24 Interfirm Comparison (Australia) Pty Ltd v Law Society of New South Wales [1975] 2 NSWLR 104 Johns v ASC (1992) 178 CLR 408 Kation Pty Limited v Lamru Pty Limited [2009] 257 ALR 336 Maggbury Pty Ltd v Hafele Australia Pty Ltd (2001) 210 CLR 181 Missingham v Shamin [2011] NSWSC 1208 Orleans Investments Pty Ltd and Anor v Mindshare Communications Ltd [2009] NSWCA 40; (2009) 254 ALR 81 Rinehart v Welker [2011] NSWCA 403 Seven Network (Operations) Ltd and Ors v James Warburton (No 2) [2011] NSWSC 386 Texts Cited: Cross, The Law of Intellectual Property: Copyright, Designs and Confidential Information Vol 2 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Walter Patrick Missingham (Plaintiff) Alex Shamin (Defendant) Representation: Counsel A T S Dawson (Plaintiff) Self-represented (Defendant) Solicitors Yeldham Price O'Brien Lusk (Plaintiff) File Number(s): 11/305541