In the case of Marel Australia Pty Ltd v. Buckmaster [2024] QSC 218, the Supreme Court of Queensland heard an application by Marel, a supplier of food processing equipment, against its former employee Michael Buckmaster. Marel accused Buckmaster of attempting to transfer its confidential information to a competitor after announcing his resignation on January 22, 2024. The court ordered Buckmaster to submit an affidavit detailing any disclosures of Marel's confidential information, the recipients of such information, the mode and timing of its communication, and the current locations of several digital storage devices. Additionally, Buckmaster was restrained from further disclosing Marel's confidential information. The court deferred a decision on costs related to interim relief and adjourned the application for further review. Buckmaster had defended against Marel's application on the grounds of privilege against self-incrimination and questioned the breadth of the requested disclosure, but the court concluded that the information sought did not breach privilege protections.
Full text: https://www.sclqld.org.au/caselaw/149007