Search Orders
Sapphire forensic staff have worked with and received training from a number of government agencies for the search and seizure of electronic data and devices.
Sapphire can help with:
- Attending sites and assisting with the execution of a Search Order.
- Drafting with the computer related sections of the Search Order.
- Helping to identify which digital media should be seized or forensically imaged.
- Examining the forensic images subsequent to the execution of the Search Order.
- Preparation of a report (or statement) detailing the computer forensics evidence.
In addition to this, the forensic staff at Sapphire have experience in working with Anton Piller orders;
An Anton Piller order (frequently misspelt Anton Pillar order) is a court order that provides the right to search premises and seize evidence without prior warning.
These types of orders arose from the case Anton Pillar KG v Manufacturing Processes Ltd. That case involved an action for copyright infringement and misuse of confidential information.
This prevents destruction of incriminating evidence, particularly in cases of alleged trademark, copyright or patent infringements. They are now known as search orders in England and Wales.
Because such an order is essentially unfair to the accused party, Anton Piller orders are only issued exceptionally and according to the three-step test set out by Ormrod LJ in the Anton Piller case:
1. There is an extremely strong prima facie case against the respondent,
2. The damage, potential or actual, must be very serious for the applicant,
and
3. There must be clear evidence that the respondents have in their
possession incriminating documents or things and that there is a real
possibility that they may destroy such material before an inter parties
application can be made.
In the UK, it has been reported that approximately 500 Anton Piller orders were made per year between 1975 and 1980. During the 1990s, this rate had dropped tenfold.
Although the name persists in normal usage, the common law application of this order has been largely superseded by a statutory search order under the Civil Procedure Act 1997[2].
A search order under this act "does not affect any right of a person to refuse to do anything on the ground that to do so might tend to expose him or his spouse to proceedings for an offence or for the recovery of a penalty".
