Ensure your confidential information is kept confidential
by Virtuoso Legal
We are approached on a regular basis by businesses which have experienced competitors or employees misusing their confidential information. A recent survey by researchers from Infosecurity Europe highlighted the importance of safeguarding confidential information. The researchers carried out the survey on 600 commuters at London Railway Stations and out of this group, 37% of those questioned stated that they were willing to part with company secrets for the right price.
It is often necessary to disclose confidential information to other companies you are working in conjunction with, such as for manufacturing, research and development or collaboration purposes. However, confidential information can be misused if there is a leak, if it falls into the wrong hands or if the other party is not aware of its confidential nature. This can have disastrous consequences for a business and will effect the sucess or failure of that business.
It is now more common for businesses to store their secrets and confidential information in digital form on computers, CDs and memory sticks. This adds to the problem as data can easily be downloaded, copied, transferred elsewhere or printed. The result of this can be catastrophic. It is therefore key that businesses put preventative measures in place to eliminate the chances of this happening.
Information used in a business can be divided into the following categories:-
- Trade secrets
- Other confidential information
- Employees’ skill and knowledge
- Public domain information
Some examples of trade secrets are manufacturing processes, business plans and methods, customer lists and databases and computer source code. Trade secrets can be just as an important intellectual property asset as copyright, database rights and patents. We advise our clients to have a confidentiality agreement (or non-disclosure agreement) in place if they are exchanging trade secrets with another party. Such agreements are important as they record the terms under which you exchange secret information and it marks the information as having the necessary “ring of confidence” which you would be required to prove if you were forced to take the matter to Court.
Information which forms part of an employee’s skill and knowledge and public domain information cannot be considered to be confidential. Employees are however under implied duties of confidentiality and should also be under an express duty in their employment contracts to keep confidential information secret. If an employee misuses or discloses trade secrets without permission, employers have several causes of action available to them including breach of contract, post-termination restrictive covenants, breach of confidence and database right infringement. The remedies available are injunctions, search orders, delivery up and damages or account of profits.
Please contact us if you have any questions or require advice: ring 0844 800 8871 or 0113 237 9900. Our first 20 minute interviews are free and at no obligation to you.
