In a ruling which underlines the wisdom of absolute honesty in court proceedings, two businessmen who deliberately made false statements and fabricated evidence in support of an action before the Patents County Court may face contempt of court proceedings after their case was referred to the Attorney General.
The businessmen were directors of a company that launched an action against a trade rival in respect of infringement of design rights in a piece of tableware. An interim injunction was granted to restrain marketing and sale of the competing product which it was subsequently conceded was an infringing copy.
However, the businessmen later admitted that, in applying for the injunction, they had given fabricated evidence to advance their employer’s interests. False emails had been presented to the court as genuine and they had conspired together to give false evidence and to lie in their sworn witness statements.
Directing that the case be referred to the Attorney General for consideration as to whether contempt proceedings should be instituted against the businessmen, the court described their conduct as serious and persistent. They had concocted a completely fictitious story to explain the creation of the false emails and had only confessed their wrong-doing late in the day.