Nondisclosure agreements aid in preventing the disclosure of confidential and proprietary information, including trade secrets.
What constitutes a trade secret?
It is something that has economic value to a company that has not been made public in any way. This is a generic definition, but it is the heart and soul of what a trade secret is. It is essential to the business in some way like a client list. It is something that has to have independent value due to it being a secret.
The best example is the recipe for Coca Cola. It’s not a patent, nor is it a copyright. It’s a trade secret that is kept by Coca Cola. Another good example would have been, up until recently, the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken, which now has been published on the internet.
Can the person who published the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken be sued for violating a nondisclosure agreement?
Only if he or she was subject to a nondisclosure agreement or had a duty to keep it a secret.
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