Nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice.

Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements can be vital in certain industries. The software industry, for example, is complex when it comes to intellectual property. The circumstances where patents may protect software are limited, leaving developers to copyright law. Copyrights will protect the code, but not necessarily the ideas behind the program. As such, secrecy is crucial during the development stages of software. No matter what the industry, any case where intellectual property laws do not provide the optimal protection, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements would be prudent. These agreements would be appropriate for anyone with access to the confidential information or subject matter for non-disclosure (employees, contractors, investors, prospective consumers) for any data, software, marketing plans, financial information, instruction manuals, or product specifications.

If you would like to implement confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements into another contract, or as a stand-alone document, please contact us.