Non-Detonating Solutions (Pty) Ltd v Durie and Another

The appellant and second respondent were competitors in the market for non-detonating rock-breaking cartridges. The appellant owned copyright and confidential information in a self-stemming cartridge known as the AutoStem. The first respondent, managing director of the second respondent, became aware of the AutoStem through third parties and admitted to making a drawing of it from memory. Evidence emerged that the respondents had approached toolmakers with drawings similar to the AutoStem. Fearing destruction or concealment of evidence, the appellant obtained an urgent ex parte Anton Piller order authorising search and seizure of documents and electronic data. On the return day, the High Court criticised the respondents’ conduct but discharged the interim Anton Piller order as overbroad. The appellant appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The appeal was upheld with costs. The High Court’s order discharging the Anton Piller order was set aside and substituted with an amended order narrowing and regulating inspection of seized documents and electronic data. The amended provisional Anton Piller order was confirmed.

The case is a leading Supreme Court of Appeal authority on Anton Piller relief in South Africa. It clarifies the proper approach to reconsideration of interim Anton Piller orders on the return day, emphasises proportionality and specificity, and confirms that duplicity by a respondent can justify fears of spoliation of evidence. It also reinforces the balance between privacy rights under the Constitution and the need to preserve vital evidence.