If you wish to prevent an employee or other third party from competing with your company for the duration of the confidentiality agreement or for a specified period after the termination of the employment relationship or the end of the agreement, it is possible to protect your interests by including a non-compete clause. These clauses may be null or unworkable, unless they are: As you can see, the extent of your injury also affects the speed at which you must act. The threat of a misappropriation of action requires immediate action; You must hurry to obtain a court order that prevents disclosure. The same immediacy does not exist when the diversion is over and the damage is done. What can happen after violating the terms of an NOA may depend on what is written in your agreement. Take a look at the agreement you signed, the information it carries and the consequences of a violation of the agreement. In practice, many companies are not due to NDA violators, as this may draw even more attention to an often monstrous problem in the workplace. However, it is also likely that your employer will be able to claim a breach of contract and take legal action against you. Courts have the right to issue injunctions called interim measures (Tro) in a few days if you prove that a business secret could be lost because of embezzlement.
The court must then attend a hearing at which all parties can be heard. If, at the end of this hearing, the court still believes that a trade secret is at stake and you will probably win in court, it can issue a „temporary“ injunction. This order will continue to prevent the continued use or disclosure of business secrecy until a final decision is made in this case. In practice, as soon as an injunction is issued, the parties often settle rather than fight the case to trial and beyond. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has an impact on confidentiality agreements, which must be developed (or updated if they already exist) to ensure that these provisions comply with regulatory requirements. Our data protection lawyers are happy to advise you. Unilateral confidentiality agreements contain only obligations for one of the parties. This type of agreement is common when you are developing a new product or service and looking for potential suppliers or partners.