Community detention for architect who stole

A leading Auckland architect who was found guilty of stealing trade secrets from a rival firm has been sentenced to community detention and community work.

Michael Christopher Davies, 46, the former principal architect for Design Partners, was found guilty of eight charges relating to stealing information from Context Architects Ltd for a pecuniary advantage, at a jury trial in July.

At the Auckland District Court yesterday, Judge Eddie Paul sentenced him to three months community detention and 220 hours community work.

Davies was employed by Context between May 2015 and March 2017.

In February 2017, Davies handed in his resignation, saying he and Context were ‘‘on separate paths with a different view of the future’’, the summary of facts stated.

There was an agreement between Context and Davies as to what he’d take with him upon leaving.

This discussion, which took place via email and a letter on March 2, included a client with whom Davies worked closely.

It was agreed that he would take the client with him, but not the ArchiCAD file – a computer drawing template – as that would include Context’s intellectual property.

However, soon after Davies left, Context was contacted by Isometric, which queried whether Context was aware that Davies had downloaded a large number of its files onto a personal hard drive.

Those included key client files, reports, building consents, presentations and meeting notes. All of those contained highly confidential and commercially sensitive data.

Judge Paul said it was no doubt Davies was a good architect and was driven in his professional life to complete work to a very high standard.

However, Judge Paul said, the offending must have been pre-meditated, there was a significant breach of trust, and there could have been a huge financial loss.

The judge said he needed to send Davies and the industry a strong message of deterrence.