The parties' submissions
22 Each of the contesting parties filed short written submissions. From those submissions it appeared that the relevant principles were not in dispute.
23 Domino's submitted that the applicable considerations were summarised in AstraZeneca AB v Medis Pharma Pty Ltd [2014] FCA 549 at [10] per Besanko J. Domino's referred also to Gram Engineering Pty Ltd v Bluescope Steel Pty Ltd (No 2) [2016] FCA 452 at [21] per Jagot J. In the former case, Besanko J said, at [10]:
The relevant legal principles are as follows:
(1) The onus of establishing a claim for confidentiality is on the party making the claim.
(2) The question of whether a claim for confidentiality should be upheld or refused involves a balancing exercise in which the competing considerations are the risk of inadvertent or accidental disclosure on the one hand, and the benefits of a party having access to relevant information so that appropriate advice can be given to the client and informed instructions received from the client, on the other.
(3) In determining where the balance lies in a particular case, a number of matters are relevant, including the following:
(i) the nature and content of the confidential information;
(ii) the extent to which, if the confidential information is disclosed to a particular person, that person will have occasion to use the information to further a party's commercial interests. In this context, involvement or lack of involvement in competitive decision‑making will be relevant. It will also be relevant to consider whether the person to whom it is proposed to disclose the information owes or may owe contractual, statutory or fiduciary duties to their principal in relation to competitive decisions;
(iii) the professional attributes of the persons to whom it is proposed to disclose the information and the extent to which they have participated in confidentiality clubs in the past;
(iv) the extent to which the Court can be satisfied that, if confidential information is released to a person, that person, or the organisation for which the person works, has in place a security system that will protect the confidentiality of the information;
(v) undertakings given by the proposed recipient of the confidential information or the party seeking disclosure to meet any loss caused by inadvertent or accidental disclosure;
(vi) although the above five matters are directed, primarily at least, to the risk of inadvertent or accidental disclosure of the confidential information and the likely loss if that occurs, on the other side of the equation, it is relevant to consider the extent to which a party's ability to seek advice and provide instructions may be hampered if a claim for confidentiality is upheld. In this context, it is worth noting that a claim for confidentiality in relation to certain persons is not necessarily to be upheld because there is already one person able to seek advice and provide instructions. It may be appropriate for a number of people from within an organisation to have access to confidential information in order to seek appropriate advice and provide informed instructions, particularly in the case of a large organisation and complex litigation. Whether that is so or not depends on the outcome of weighing the relevant factors.
(Citations omitted.)
24 Domino's submitted that the nature of the information in schedules 1, 2 and 3 was not confidential. Precision Tracking bore the onus of establishing the confidentiality of the documents in issue. Domino's submitted evidence filed on behalf of Precision Tracking did not establish the confidential nature of the information contained in schedules 1, 2 and 3.
25 Domino's relied on the observation in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Visy Industries [2006] FCA 136 at [33] - [34] per Heerey J:
In contrast to discovery under O 15 rr 1, 5 or 8, production under O 15 r 10 does not depend on any leave being given by the Court. The reason is obvious enough. When a document is directly relied on by an opposing party, basic procedural fairness would require that a party be able to inspect the document, if only to see whether it is what it is alleged to be. It may be that the only options available to the party served with an O 15 r 10 notice are those set out in subr (2), viz, production, claiming privilege, or stating that the document is not in his possession and where he believes it is. On this basis confidentiality, either of the party receiving the notice or an outsider, would not be relevant since confidentiality is not one of the recognized grounds of privilege: Ex parte Fielder Gillespie Ltd [1984] 2 Qd R 339 at 341.
It is not necessary to decide this question because, assuming the confidentiality claimed by Amcor to be relevant, it is nevertheless outweighed by the centrality of the documents in question to the case against the respondents and the case they seek to make. In this regard I note that the leading Australian case on confidentiality in relation to the production of documents in litigation, the decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal in Mobil Oil Australia Ltd v Guina Developments Pty Ltd [1996] 2 VR 34, dealt with ordinary discovery and not any equivalent of O 15 r 10. Hayne JA pointed out (at 39) that the information in the documents in question, which related to calculations of the proposed financial return to the plaintiff's rival bidders for a construction contract, was not directly in issue. The material did not bear on the case which the plaintiff sought to make (at 41).
26 Domino's submitted that the information in the schedules was not information tangentially relied on in the pleading but was information of central relevance to Precision Tracking's pleaded case and, in turn, to Domino's ability to provide meaningful instructions for the provision of a reply to the defence and defence to the cross-claim. Further, on its own case, Precision Tracking alleged that Domino's had the information contained in schedules 2 and 3.
27 Domino's also submitted that assuming Precision Tracking's allegations were correct (which was denied) Domino's and Navman Tracking must have already exploited Precision Tracking's information and none of the Domino's representatives, or Domino's itself, would have a further commercial benefit in using the information in the schedules.
28 Domino's submitted that each of the representatives named required access to the documents in order for Domino's to provide adequate instructions and those instructions were unquestionably needed for the conduct of the litigation and for Domino's ability to adequately plead to the allegations made by Precision Tracking.
29 Domino's also submitted that the YouTube video was published and available to be viewed without any restriction in the period December 2012 to at least September 2015. Even if the video was only supplied to Domino's, as asserted by Precision Tracking, it plainly should be made available to the nominated Domino's representatives and not restricted to Domino's external legal representatives.
30 Navman Wireless submitted that the documents claimed to be confidential by Precision Tracking included three schedules to the statement of cross-claim, which contained the majority of the particulars of that pleading. In addition, confidentiality was claimed in relation to the contract assigning intellectual property rights, referred to in [72] of the statement of cross-claim, and in relation to the video file.
31 Navman Wireless submitted that the particulars in the schedules identified the information alleged to be confidential, as well as the alleged copyright works and infringements. The pleading itself did not do this. Navman Wireless submitted that schedules 1, 2 and 3 concerned the articulation of the claim brought by Precision Tracking against it and against Domino's.
32 Navman Wireless submitted that only its General Counsel needed access to the contracts referred to in [72] of the statement of cross-claim. But in relation to the schedules, access was sought for the General Counsel and three employees and one independent consultant, each of whom was involved in the events the subject of the dispute.
33 Navman Wireless also submitted that there was no reasonable basis for a claim of confidentiality in relation to the video file.
34 After referring to AstraZeneca AB v Medis Pharma Pty Ltd at [10], Navman Wireless submitted that in considering the balancing exercise referred to by Besanko J, in the present case the fact that the information sought to be kept confidential included the particulars to the claim weighed strongly against refusing access to the limited group of people identified by the evidence as necessary to give instructions in relation to the statement of cross-claim. It submitted that to take the extraordinary step of requiring Navman Wireless to file a defence without access to all of its particulars, including particulars as detailed and fundamental as those in issue here, the Court would need to be persuaded that at the very least the information in the particulars was of a highly confidential nature and that there would be a real risk of harm to Precision Tracking if that information was disclosed to the limited group of representatives of Navman Wireless who had signed confidentiality undertakings. A breach of those undertakings could be punished as contempt of the Court. Additional protection was provided by the obligations discussed in Hearne v Street [2008] HCA 36; 235 CLR 125.
35 The submissions also referred to the allegation in the statement of cross-claim that Navman Wireless had already had access to and use of the information in question. The submission also referred to the confidential affidavit of 11 July 2016 of Mr Prescott.
36 Precision Tracking submitted that the details of an appropriate confidentiality regime were, in the end, a balancing exercise. Precision Tracking proposed that, in addition to external solicitors and counsel, patent attorneys and independent experts, Domino's and Navman Wireless' senior in-house legal counsel would be allowed access on confidential terms and conditions including that the confidential materials were accessed only in the form of a single hardcopy or single electronic copy on a stand-alone storage medium; and one senior employee of Domino's and one of Navman Wireless with technical qualifications, and in a technical role, would be allowed access on the same terms, subject to an additional qualification that these persons could only access the materials in the presence of either external legal counsel or in-house counsel if they had been admitted to the confidentiality regime. The matters particularly relied on by Precision Tracking as relevant to achieving an appropriate balance were first the genesis of the particulars: that Domino's was the party which had brought this litigation into existence and Precision Tracking brought the particulars into existence to comply with the requirement that the confidential information be specified with specificity and not merely in global terms; and that confidentiality regimes could not assume the correctness of any party's position. Secondly, given Domino's claimed position of independent creation of the Navman Wireless system there was no reason, Precision Tracking submitted, why the potential witnesses could not provide instructions as to their own account of the circumstances in which that system was created without being led by reference to the confidential schedules. Thirdly, there was the risk of inadvertent disclosure. Fourthly, there was the risk of commercial harm to Precision Tracking and/or its directors through inadvertent disclosure or an inability to put that information to one side when dealing with commercial opportunities. Fifthly, it was submitted there was nothing to prevent the Domino's/Navman Wireless version of events being elicited as instructions, and subsequently evidence, from the relevant witnesses without reference to the confidential schedules. That would not cause prejudice at the present stage of the proceedings and Precision Tracking accepted that the balancing exercise may need to be reconsidered at an appropriate stage, for example after lay evidence was served. Sixthly, it was submitted that the Precision Tracking confidentiality regime already in place also provided for mutual inspection, on appropriate confidentiality terms, of the parties' respective computer systems, given the claims of confidentiality of functionality.
37 Precision Tracking gave great emphasis in its submissions to Markus v Provincial Insurance Co Ltd (1983) 25 NSWCCR 1 and to decisions which have applied or considered that case, including: Broadwater Taxation & Investment Services Pty Ltd v Hendriks (unreported, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Santow J, 9 September 1993), Halpin v Lumley General Insurance Ltd [2009] NSWCA 372; 78 NSWLR 265 and Morton v Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd [2013] FCA 681.
38 Precision Tracking submitted that the video was confidential information and that the information in question being obtained by lawyers making targeted searches on the Internet did not prove lack of confidentiality or relative confidentiality.