Sweden: Court ruling that former employees did not make use of trade secrets but nonetheless acted disloyally

Four employees resigned to start a business in competition with their former employer. The employer claimed that the employees had made use of information regarding the former employer’s customers in their competing business. The Court found that the information comprised trade secrets. However, the employer could not prove that the information had actually been used by the employees in their competing business. Furthermore, the former employer claimed that the employees had acted disloyally when planning and preparing their competing business during their employment. The Court found that the employees, inter alia, had sought to solicit the business from the employer’s customers to their upcoming competing business and ruled that the disloyalty warranted liability for economic damages amounting to SEK 800,000.