Confidentiality Agreement Indefinite Period

So, David, whether it would be useful to remove this term from your confidentiality agreement depends on the type of information protected. But even if the agreement only protects trade secrets, the protection would not last forever. I assume that your agreement does not only cover trade secrets. If so, I`m not sure you`ve received good advice. Of course, this is not the place to start a discussion about what constitutes a trade secret. KFC operates so discreetly and only a handful of employees know of its secret recipe for “11 herbs and spices” and according to reports, all these employees have signed promises of confidentiality. There are both legal and commercial justifications for including deadlines in confidentiality agreements. I have a question for you that has been annoying me for several years. From time to time, my company transmits company-related information to third parties and first enters into a confidentiality agreement (CA) [also known as a confidentiality agreement – KAA] with the third party. Our BOARD has a duration of five years and is often negotiated in a shorter period of time. Several lawyers suggested removing the provision from our agreement and forcing the third party to request a delay.

These lawyers claim that if a deadline is not requested and therefore no deadline is indicated in the Board, the duration is unlimited (i.e. the confidentiality obligations will last forever), which would benefit my company. Other lawyers I have spoken to have stated that a ca without duration carries the risk of being cancelled by a court (either the court would impose its own reasonable time or cancel the entire contract for reasons of indeterminacy). Are you aware of any case law on this particular topic or do you have any thoughts on whether or not you should include a deadline in a certification body (or in another contract)? The agreement should continue to provide that information made public through no fault of the parties is no longer protected under the agreement. Although it is often used, it is worth stopping and thinking about why we should accept deadlines and how to include a deadline in a confidentiality agreement while providing adequate protection for trade secrets. One solution to this problem is a shared confidentiality obligation, in which trade secret obligations apply indefinitely, but obligations relating to all other confidential information only apply for a limited period of time.. . .