What is a Confidentiality agreement ?

By: Herry Taylor | Posted: 14th March 2012

What is valuable information?
Confidential information plays an important role in the success of the business. Because it protects the ideas, plans, policies before the completion of a project. Confidential agreement gives security to such valuable information. It imposes the obligation on the recipient to keep the information as a secret within the specified time period. It must be made before the disclosing of the confidential information.

Legal importance of agreement
It is a legally binding contract. It must be in a written form. It is a contract that promotes and develops the mutual trust between the parties. It provides the sense of security to disclosing party that his valuable information; plan is in secret under the protection of the law. It is also called non disclosure agreement (NDA).

Essential of confidential information
The information which is already in a public domain is not considered as confidential. However, the information already in knowledge of the recipient is not considered as confidential but the recipient can agree to keep this information as confidential.

Business growth
The business growth is entirely depending on the confidential information. It is a back bone of the company which makes or mars the company fate. So therefore the discloser must take the all pre cautionary steps before negotiating such information with the recipient.

Time Limit
The NDA must provide the time period for keeping the information as secret, confidential. It also defines the obligation and responsibilities of the recipient. The agreement once signed, it becomes the legal document. It is necessary for the recipient to know what extent information is considered as confidential. So the discloser must define the extent of information, which is confidential. Information already in public domain does not call as confidential information.

Breach of the agreement
The NDA imposes the legal obligation on the recipient not to disclose the information without getting the prior permission of the discloser. The discloser can sue the recipient if the recipient breaches the terms of the confidential agreement. The court can impose the penalty on the recipient for the breach of any term of the agreement.

Necessity of non disclosure agreement
In the absence of any written agreement, the disclosing party will be left with nothing to prove and prevent the misuse of information that it shared with the other party. Such an agreement is also a simple way to gauge the intention of the other party and at the same time set the platform for future understandings.

Therefore, the first and the foremost requirement of the parties are to determine that the confidential information which is being disclosed or mutually shared by the parties is protected from any misuse. To ensure the safety of the confidential information and the sensitive information of the disclosure being passed on in the wrong hands, parties generally prefer to enter into confidentiality agreements. The importance of this agreement really tested when the things do not go as per the plan and deal goes to sour.

The NDA put strict liabilities and obligations on the recipient of the confidential information to ensure that the sensitive information disclosed by the disclosure to the recipient is kept secret.

Net Lawman provides the comprehensive non disclosure agreement. Such as:

Confidentiality agreement, Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

This confidentiality agreement (non-disclosure agreement or NDA) enables a business or individual to explore the possibilities for a deal before signing an agreement that covers the terms. This confidentiality agreement is a good way of protecting your secrets from being used by the other side if the deal doesn't go ahead. Examples of use might be: a proposed franchise; a business acquisition; the appointment of an agent or distributor; demonstration of plans, ideas or a prototype.
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Tags: business growth, recipient, sense of security, public domain, time limit, fate, confidential information, legal obligation, mutual trust, back bone, breach, non disclosure agreement, legal document, specified time period, binding contract