Jobserve satisfied with RDL interim judgment

Online recruitment firm Jobserve Ltd has been awarded its costs with 50,000 to be paid on account on an interim basis after taking legal proceedings against RDL Group PLC and various companies including the recruitment agency Relational Designers Ltd (ëRDLí) and Skillsite Ltd.

Mr Kevin Garnett QC sitting as a Deputy Judge in the High Court heard applications by Jobserve in relation to allegations about a competitor website, known as Skillsite, which was launched in December 2000.

Jobserve claims that RDL and Skillsite Ltd violated Jobserveís database rights and infringed the Jobserve registered trade mark. Jobserve also claims against RDL that it breached the standard terms and conditions of its CV service subscription agreement.

The Defendants dispute the database right claims mainly on grounds that the European database right laws have been misinterpreted in the English High Court and Court of Appeal in the British Horseracing Board and William Hill case and argue that Jobserveís databases are not databases in which a database right exists. RDL also deny entering into any written contract with Jobserve for its CV service whereby it was subject to Jobserveís standard terms and conditions. Skillsite has accepted that the use of Jobserve as a meta-tag was wrong.

The case centres around the misuse of CVs acquired by RDL from Jobserve, which were then passed on to third parties including a rival website, Skillsite, with which RDL were connected. It was also discovered that the Skillsite website and others connected with RDL were using Jobserve as a meta-tag and job adverts had been taken from Jobserveís own site or its email service.

The court heard that after Jobserve took legal proceedings, the meta-tags were removed and some temporary undertakings were made in relation to CVs and job advertisements. The number of CVs available to agencies subscribing to Skillsite has been substantially reduced from over 105,000 in November 2001 to less than 25,000 currently.

Describing Jobserve as an extremely well known and successful company, and as the market leader for providing recruitment services online, Mr Kevin Garnett QC, said the principal dispute over the misuse of CVs revolved around a clause in Jobserveís terms and conditions which states clearly: ìThe agency shall not submit, copy, re-sell or make available in any way any CVs or other information received from the company to any person, business or company other than genuine clients who are recruiting such candidates for their own employment.î

Skillsite has had to go through its database of CVs and remove all those received from Jobserve. Awarding costs to Jobserve, Mr Garnett QC said undertakings had only been offered by the defendants very recently and were not sufficient to deal with the applications and therefore Jobserve was the successful party.

Speaking after the hearing, Jobserve MD Robbie Cowling said: ìToday was just the first step and it was very encouraging to hear the Judge describe our case as a strong one. The actions are moving towards a full trial where we will seek to make the undertakings permanent injunctions and to recover compensation for the vast damages that we have incurred. I think this sends a very clear message to anyone considering abusing or misusing the services we provide. We will not stand by and allow it to happen. It also demonstrates to the candidates who entrust us with their CVs that we will do everything in our power to protect their privacy and rights and to stop any abuse of their personal information.î

A full trial is expected to be heard next year.