I-Admin (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Hong Ying Ting [2020] SGCA 32 issue faced by owners of copyrighted and confidential information, particularly in the context of disputes arising out of erstwhile employer-employee relationships. Against the backdrop of a digitised society, it is now significantly more challenging to guard against the wrongful copying, abuse and exploitation of protected information. This appeal provides us with a timely opportunity to review the scope of the law of confidence in particular. We state at the outset that, in our judgment, the legal framework that has hitherto prevailed does not adequately safeguard the interests of those who own confidential information. The facts The parties 4 The appellant is a Singapore-incorporated company in the business of outsourcing services and systems software, specifically payroll administrative data processing services (“Payroll Systems”) and human resource (“HR”) information systems (“HRIS”) (GD at [3]). The appellant’s Payroll Systems are used by more than 800 clients in 15 countries across Asia and it operates a number of wholly owned subsidiaries including I-Admin (Shanghai) Ltd (“IAdmin (Shanghai)”). 5 The appellant’s Payroll Systems come in two forms: the “payAdmin” and “ePayroll” software systems. The “payAdmin” system is the appellant’s core payroll calculation engine designed for large corporations. The “ePayroll” system is a streamlined version of the “payAdmin” system and caters to small and medium-sized clients. The appellant’s HRIS is a collective term to describe the various HR systems it has developed. A number of other materials surround and underlie these software systems, making up the infrastructure through which the appellant operates its business and provides its services. 2