The High Court has found that two former employees breached their implied duty of fidelity when they set up a company in competition with their former employer and they also breached fiduciary duties.

The High Court considered the position of an employee who learns of confidential matters from a potential new employer relating to competition with the existing employer and agreed with Maurice Kay LJ's suggestion in Tullet Prebon plc v BGC Brokers LP [2011] IRLR 420, that such an employee would be in breach of confidence to that new employer if they passed the information to their existing employer. An employee should be able to seek new employment without coming under a duty to inform their existing employer of what they have learnt in confidence when doing so. However, each case would depend on its particular facts including the express terms of the contract between the parties. (Customer Systems plc v Ranson and others [2011] EWHC 3304 (QB).)