Thursday 22 November 2012

An Introduction to Confidentiality Agreement

Confidentiality agreement refers to a written legal agreement between an employee and an employer. It lays out binding terms & conditions which forbid the employee from revealing company’s confidential & proprietary information. This agreement remains in effect for the period of employee’s employment & for a period following employee’s termination. It is also used in various other situations like: -
  • Senior and management level job interviews at the time of which company’s confidential information is discussed.
  • Contractor or consultant contract & assignment discussions & products ensuing from contractual work.
  • Discussions with vendors involving products, parts & other proprietary information sharing.
  • Situations which involve stock or purchase, due diligence and other interaction during which company’s confidential information is shared.
The employers get advantage from confidentiality agreement templates, as they stop the parties from sharing company’s knowledge, client or product information, trade secrets, strategic plans & other information which is confidential & proprietary to the company. These agreements state that the person who has signed them cannot disclose or profit from company’s confidential information supplied.

Confidentiality agreement frequently claims company’s ownership of anything which is written, produced, developed or invented during or as a consequence of employment, services, contracts or interviewing if it’s in anyway related to the extent of the company’s business. The agreement should offer a clause which allows an employer to give permission or sign off on to the signer to make use of company’s proprietary information.

When drafting a confidentiality agreement, there are various factors to consider: -

Mutual VS one-way – A few of the agreements cover revelation of confidential information by only one party. On the other hand, other agreements are mutual & cover revelation by both parties.
Non-disclosure & non-use restriction - There are 2 restrictions in this type of agreement. 1. Non-disclosure restriction prevents the recipient from revealing the confidential information to 3rd parties. 2. Non-use restriction prevents the recipient from using the info other than for a specific purpose.
Term – Confidentiality agreements commonly have term of 3 to 5 years. The term basically depends on the tactical value of the info to the discloser.

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