A Birmingham law firm is warning the region's directors to be fully aware of the legal implications of revealing information about their former companies.

A recent court case, The Hedgehog Golf Company v Hauser, has opened up new ground with regard to the extent of ex-directors' obligations, and prevents them from revealing information about their former  company to a new employer.

In the case, an ex-director had been on the verge of revealing confidential information about one of his former company's products, a patented device known as a Hedgehog. Their former company applied to the High Court to prevent this.

Jon Huskisson, solicitor at Birmingham law firm The Wilkes Partnership, commented: "The High Court granted the former employer something unusual called a 'perpetual injunction', banning the ex-director from ever disclosing specified information regarding the product.

"It is well known that this area of law is quite difficult to define through hard and fast rules, with confidentiality clauses often difficult to enforce.This case vividly demonstrates that people in this position, on whichever side of a dispute, do need to obtain proper legal advice to be sure of what rights they have."