Companies operating in the fruit business in South Africa have in recent years increasingly acted to protect their intellectual property in an environment of increased movement of staff from one company to another.
One of the most recent developments in successful action against what has become known as ‘staff and intelligence pinching’ has been a court decision in favour of Lonrho Logistics against Toll Global Forwarding (TGF).
Observers say in future people who may decide to ‘hop over the fence’ with information belonging to their previous employer may well think twice. They will certainly be much more careful how they act when they move from one company to another.
Lonrho has an established name in freight forwarding, with divisions handling perishables such as fruit and flowers. TGF is part of an Australian company operating in the same general market.
The whole saga was covered in South Africa’s Financial Mail by writer Carmel Rickard, in her column ‘In Good Faith’ and under the heading 'The Covert Consultant’.
According to papers presented to the court a senior member of Lonrho staff, Martin Brown, started talking to TGF just over a year ago. He provided what the court called ‘reams of confidential information' about Lonrho’s operation. The court found that TGF officials compiled shopping lists of confidential details which would be important in the plan to launch a beefed up TGF perishables freight forwarding section, and Mr Brown eagerly obliged.
Detailed information of reports based on a 12 month business, with volumes, commodities and destinations by month, as well as required staff structures and summaries of amounts invoiced to key customers was provided.
In the end TGF signed employment contracts with Brown and another senior London staffer, though they did not resign and officially joined TGF only several months later. When seven other Cape Town staffers joined TGF, Lonrho became suspicious.
The e-mail trail turned up an e-mail from Brown, showing the information he provided to Ian McAllister, TGF’s national operations director about five months earlier.
The whole thing ended with Lonrho being granted an interdict preventing TGF from using the unlawfully obtained information, barring the company from providing airfreight services to Lonrho’s main customers as listed by Brown, or from contacting and soliciting any more Lonrho employees to join TGF.
“The consequences may be dire,” Rickard concluded. “TGF equipped a new warehouse, employed staff and devised an ambitious business plan, all based on information illegally obtained. And of course it just might turn out that when these clients are ultimately approached, they will take a dim view of the ethics involved and prefer to stay where they are.
Food for thought for all those who may think of jumping the fence.
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