The Often-Signed, Rarely Read ‘Confidentiality Agreement’

A confidentiality agreement is seldom a strategically important agreement. But you can make a strategically important mistake in signing one. The risk of this is exacerbated if you are among the droves of managers who sign confidentiality agreements (sometimes called non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs) without really reading them.

Here’s the key risk:  some confidentiality agreements, especially those offered up by potential business partners, will contain restrictions on your engaging in a competitive business (a ‘non-compete’) or on your soliciting or hiring employees, customers, suppliers, etc. (a ‘non-raid’). If you do nothing else before signing a confidentiality agreement, check to see if it contains one of these extraordinary restrictions. Read more