British Court Rules on Ownership of E-mail Contact Lists on an Employer's Computer System

In a recent UK case in the Court of Queen's Bench, it was held that where contact lists on Outlook or other e-mail programs are stored on an employer's e-mail system and backed up by the employer, the contact list belongs to the employer. This applies even where no express limitation has been provided by the employer. PennWell Publishing (UK) Ltd (PennWell) brought an action against three former employees who formed a company together and removed confidential business information during their employment. At the time of trial, only one defendant, Isles, remained. It was alleged that Isles took a confidential Microsoft Outlook contact list containing clients, potential customers, suppliers, and advertisers. These contacts included contacts that Isles brought from previous employment and contacts obtained during the course of his employment at PennWell. PennWell argued that since the contact list was prepared and maintained on PennWell's computer system during Isles' employment, it belonged to PennWell and Isles was only entitled to ownership of contacts he could show pre-dated his employment. Isles argued that the contact list contained his personal contacts generated over his 17-year career and that it was not possible to distinguish the contacts generated solely during his 8-year employment at PennWell. The Court found that the e-mail policy was not effectively communicated to Isles, but accepted PennWell's argument that the contact list was generated during the course of employment and maintained by PennWell. The Court held that for Isles to retain ownership of the contact list, the list would have to have been maintained separately from PennWell's computer system. The Court also noted that ownership and protection of e-mail contacts could be obtained through contractual agreement. For the full text of the reasons for judgment in PennWell Publishing (UK) Ltd v Ornstien [2007] EWHC 1570 (QB), see: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2007/1570.html Summary by: Lauren Lodenquai