General

Nondisclosure agreements and trade secret disputes

There are many tools that a small business in the state of Florida might opt to use to protect the things it relies upon to succeed. When it comes to confidential information, a nondisclosure agreement may be utilized. This type of contract could be used between a business and an employee, or in the alternative, another business.

A typical nondisclosure agreement will contain several elements. The first is information regarding just what the confidential information addressed in the contract is, as well as any exclusions. Next, it will set forth the duties and obligations of the party on the receiving end of the information. Last, it will provide information regarding the period of time during which the agreement will be enforceable and valid.

It is possible that the confidential information to be protected is a trade secret. Trade secrets are intellectual property that provides a business an advantage in the marketplace. Since they are secret, they cannot be protected via other methods that make the protected thing part of the public domain, such as patents. A common situation in which a nondisclosure agreement might be used in conjunction with a trade secret is when a company must disclose a business secret to an employee but does not want that employee to be able to share the information with a competitor.

When the parties to a nondisclosure agreement adhere to the contents of the contract, the entire interaction may be uneventful. Should a party violate the terms of the agreement however, it is possible that legal action could be taken. Since a trade secret could play largely into the success of a business it is important for a business to take action in a timely manner.

Source: FindLaw, “A Nondisclosure Agreement,” Accessed Nov. 24, 2014

Mon Aug 27, 2:10pm