By John Hyde2021-03-17T11:01:00+00:00
A firm specialising in data breaches has paid £45,000 damages to a competitor firm after admitting to sending plagiarised claim letters.
Widnes-based Hayes Connor agreed the out-of-court settlement with national firm JMW after sending the letter on more than 200 different occasions.
JMW only became aware of the issue when its partner Nick McAleenan was sent a letter of claim issued by Hayes Connor and recognised it as one that he and colleague Laura Wilkinson had drafted themselves.
Philip Partington, head of JMW’s intellectual property team, issued a claim for copyright infringement against Hayes Connor and others. Last month, before the matter came to trial, Hayes Connor acknowledged having reproduced a substantial part of the letter drafted by McAleenan and Wilkinson and using it without JMW’s permission.