Editorial
This edition of Information Technology Law Reports contains two High Court decisions. The first, Arthur J Gallagher Services (UK) Ltd and Others v Alexandre Skriptchenko and Others, concerned the misuse of confidential information post-employment. The court decided that an order for the delivery up, imaging and search of electronic devices was necessary to protect confidential information on an interlocutory basis. This decision provides reassurance to employers and widens the net of what can be protected beyond ‘trade secrets’. The second, Streetmap.EU Ltd v (1) Google Inc. (2) Google Ireland Ltd (3) Google UK Ltd, concerned the abuse of a dominant position. The judgment is an example of the court grappling with aspects of online markets in applying the abuse of dominance. It was the first time the court had considered whether an appreciability threshold applied to an abuse of dominance where the alleged anti-competitive effect was felt on a separate but related market in which the defendant was dominant. This broadens the scope for the application of competition law across many separate but related markets. The case was also significant for holding that an abuse of dominance was objectively justified. 

Richard Budworth
Editor,Information Technology Law Reports

Arthur J Gallagher Services (UK) Ltd and Others v Alexandre Skriptchenko and Others
High Court of Justice
Queen's Bench Division 
Slade J
11 February 2016 [2016] EWHC 603 (QB)

Confidential information misuse - interim relief - computer system - inspection and search - independent expert - terms of order - American Cyanamid principles - application granted.

Streetmap.EU Ltd v (1) Google Inc. (2) Google Ireland Ltd (3) Google UK Ltd
High Court of Justice Chancery Division
Roth J
12 February 2016 
[2016] EWHC 253 (Ch)

Competition law preliminary issue - online search market maps - search engines - internet companies ?-abuse of a dominant position anti-competitive practices - judgment for the defendants.