Wrong form

A surveying company recruited a senior staff member from a rival who brought a major client to his new firm. The surveyor used an existing reporting format. Shortly after the surveyor started his new job his employers received a threat of an injunction and a claim for damages from the rival firm. The rival firm alleged that they had developed the reporting format and owned the copyright. The surveyor was advised that there was an argument that the client, and not the rival firm, owned the copyright. The surveyors did not wish to become involved in a protracted legal dispute. They therefore designed a new reporting format to match the client’s requirements and gave a formal undertaking not to use the previous format. A small contribution to the rival’s legal costs was made by way of settlement.