Mr Justice Meade Highlights The Importance Of Confidentiality When Dealing With Draft Judgments

Mr Justice Meade recently handed down a short but important judgment dealing with issues of confidentiality which arose following circulation (but before hand-down) of a draft judgment. A copy is available here.

This decision related to a suspected leak of the draft judgment from an earlier trial between the parties (Optis Cellular v Apple Retail [2021] EWHC 2564 (Pat), known as "Trial F"), handed down at the end of September as part of an ongoing SEP and FRAND dispute.

The decision serves as a stark reminder to practitioners and their clients of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of draft judgments and limiting the number of people who have access to them.

The issue arose after the draft judgment in Trial F had been circulated to the parties' lawyers. One of the barristers acting for Optis had shared the date of hand-down (which was not confidential) with a barrister who happened to be acting for Sisvel, another SEP holder who had an interest in