Your Response Ltd v Datateam Business Media Ltd
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE MOORE-BICK
- LORD JUSTICE FLOYD
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
- Commercial Law
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Your Response Ltd claimed fees and damages against Datateam Business Media Ltd for terminating a database management contract. The key issues were the notice period required for contract termination and whether a possessory lien could be exercised over electronic data. The appeals court found in favor of the publisher on the lien issue, holding that liens could not be applied to intangible property, but upheld the lower court’s ruling on the three-month notice period.
Judgment
Lord Justice Moore-Bick :
This is an appeal against the order of District Judge Bell made following the trial of a claim by the respondent, Your Response Ltd, against the appellant, Datateam Business Media Ltd, for sums alleged to be due under a contract for the management of an electronic database and for damages for breach of contract. By his order the judge gave judgment for the respondent on its claim and dismissed the appellant’s counterclaim for damages. An appeal from the order of the District Judge lies to this court because the order is a final order made in a Part 7 claim allocated to the multitrack. It raises an interesting and important question, namely, whether it is possible to exercise a common law possessory lien over an electronic database.
The facts giving rise to the dispute between the parties can be described quite shortly. The appellant (“the publisher”) publishes a number of magazines which are distributed to a large number of different subscribers. (Although some of the publications are made available to readers at no charge, being paid for by advertising revenue, it is convenient for present purposes to refer to the recipients generally as subscribers.) For the purpose of managing printing and distribution and for other purposes relating to its business the publisher keeps records containing information relating to subscribers, such as their names, addresses, the publications they receive and other information necessary to enable it to operate its business efficiently. By the end of 2009 the information was being held in electronic form in what is commonly known as a database. It required regular amendment to ensure that the information it contained was up-to-date. The evidence suggests that hundreds of amendments might be required in a single day.
The respondent (“the data manager”) carries on business as a database manager, that is, it offers customers the service of holding electronic databases and amending them as necessary in order to ensure that the information they contain is up-to-date. In about March 2010 the publisher engaged the data manager to hold and maintain its database of subscribers. The contract was not embodied in a formal agreement, but was made partly orally and partly in writing. It was agreed at trial, however, that the best evidence of the main terms agreed between the two parties was to be found in an email sent by the data manager to the publisher on 26 th February 2010. Unfortunately, that e