Don’t Take Confidentiality For Granted!

Many organizations frequently need to disclose and allow others to use their sensitive or proprietary non-public information or trade secrets, such as in the context of the purchase and sale of a business, partnering activities with other organizations, or engaging employees or contractors to perform services. Unauthorized use, disclosure or misuse of such valuable information may detrimentally impact an organization's competitive advantage or bottom-line.

A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Sabre Inc. v. International Air Transport Association, 2011 ONSC 206 (CanLII) emphasizes that it is neither safe nor sufficient to assume that commercially valuable information shared in commercial dealings is automatically subject to a duty of confidence.