united-kingdom
Legal obligations if an employee obtains a rival company&#39;s strategy
<p>If I were a manager for a tech company, and one of my employees had obtained a commercial in-confidence document detailing a rival company's strategy for bidding on a contract my company was also bidding on, what would I be legally obligated to do under UK laws?</p>

<p>Legally, the employer is responsible for the actions of the employee. So your company "obtained" it in the eyes of the law.</p>

<p>How it was "obtained" matters. </p>

<ol>
<li>If it was obtained through criminal means then there may be obligations to report the employee to the police. For example, in New South Wales, it is a crime to fail to report a serious indictable offence: theft, computer fraud and corruption would all be serious indictable offences.</li>
<li>If it was received in confidence then it is confidential information and its use would be the tort of breach of confidential information. For example, an employee of Company A told an employee of Company B the information in circumstances where the Company B employee knew or should have known that it was given in confidence; something like "Don't tell anyone but ...".</li>
<li>If it was "obtained" innocently, for example, by finding it in the other company's garbage or lying by the side of the road; then you can use it.</li>
</ol>

<p>Notwithstanding, it has clearly compromised the tender process and if you used the information and won the contract, this may be sufficient to make the contract voidable.</p>
