Hidden Strength v Kooth
On 20 July 2026, Mr Justice Fancourt granted (in part) Kooth's application for strike out / summary judgment in respect of Hidden Strength's breach of confidence / misuse of trade secrets claim.
Starting in 2021, Hidden Strength had developed a digital platform for mental health services known as the HS App. Hidden Strength entered into a non-disclosure agreement with Kooth in June 2023 and, in the same month, provided Kooth with a 21-page slide deck describing the HS App and a six-minute demonstration video. Further information was shared at a meeting between the parties in August 2023.
Kooth subsequently launched its own mental health app, Soluna, in California in January 2024. Hidden Strength issued proceedings in April 2026, alleging breach of the NDA, breach of confidence in equity, and breach of the Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018. It claimed that Kooth had used confidential information disclosed under the NDA to accelerate the development of Soluna and to incorporate features mirroring those of the HS App.
Kooth applied to strike out the claim, alternatively for summary judgment. Its case was two-fold, namely that: (i) the information disclosed was not confidential, because it lacked the necessary attributes of confidential information (including inaccessibility, having already been placed in the public domain through Hidden Strength's own marketing since 2021); and (ii) Soluna had been independently developed without use of any information shared by Hidden Strength.
Mr Justice Fancourt, applying the three-limbed framework from Coco v AN Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41, focussed on whether the information pleaded as having been misused possessed the necessary quality of confidence and whether there had in fact been misuse (the first and third limbs). He found that:
- Colour claim. Hidden Strength's choice of a purple colour scheme had been publicly marketed since 2021 and could not constitute confidential information. Further, Kooth's own evidence established it had independently selected the same colour by December 2022. There was accordingly no misuse and summary judgment was granted to Kooth.
- Trade Secrets claim deficient. The commercial value of the alleged trade secrets had not been pleaded, leaving the cause of action incomplete. Absent further amendment, this claim would be struck out.
- Functionality claim survives. The draft amended Particulars of Claim, served six days before the hearing, were held to sufficiently plead that the App Demo and the August 2023 meeting had disclosed new and confidential features not already in the public domain. Strike out / summary judgment were not granted as to this aspect of the claim as the court declined to conduct what would have amounted to a mini-trial on the competing evidence.
On the issue of costs, Mr Justice Fancourt noted that, but for the late service of the draft amended Particulars of Claim, the application would have been entirely successful and, accordingly, made a costs order in Kooth’s favour.
Andrew Lomas (leading Teen Jui Chow) appeared for Kooth, instructed by Keystone Law.
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