Pittsburgh Non-Disclosure Agreements Lawyer

Protecting Your Secrets and Confidential Information

Non-Disclosure Agreements are an incredibly important tool for businesses. These agreements help bind the parties to keep certain information confidential. Such information can include trade secrets, client information and sensitive company matters which could hurt your business if leaked out or given to the wrong people. Non-Disclosure Agreements are often made in tandem with other business arrangements such as Contracting Agreements, MSAs and Employment Contracts.

You should always have a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement before you give any sensitive information to a third party. These instances can arise for multiple reasons such as the prospective acquisition of a company, marketing agreements, employment and service agreements. Non-Disclosure Agreements are very important in regards to intellectual property, if you have an idea which you are not quite ready to patent or copyright, Non-Disclosure Agreements are often times the only way to protect this information from getting into the wrong hands. Once signed into effect, a Non-Disclosure Agreement can give you the right to prevent a third party from leaking any sensitive information they encounter regarding your company.

Power of Injunction Through a Non-Disclosure Agreement

If properly drafted, a Non-Disclosure Agreement can give you the right to enjoin a third party from improperly leaking confidential information. Enjoining a party is known as an injunction, a party seeking an injunction is seeking what is known as injunctive relief. A right to injunctive relief is the ability to have a court order(known as an injunctive order) signed by a judge which prevents another party from doing something that will harm the party seeking injunctive relief. If the party violates that court order, they can be held in contempt of court which can bring serious penalties such as steep fines or even the possibility of jail. Holding the power of a right to injunctive relief is an incredibly effective way of protecting your sensitive information. Pennsylvania Courts will enforce an agreement which gives a party a right to injunctive relief if the agreement is valid and properly drafted.

Every Non-Disclosure Agreement should give the disclosing party the right to injunctive relief. This is incredibly important because unlike a judgment from a lawsuit, an injunctive order can be brought very rapidly. If a person is leaking trade secrets and sensitive information then time is of the essence. Once leaked to the public, it will be extremely difficult or downright impossible to stop other people from stealing your ideas or using sensitive information to undermine you. If you have to wait for a civil judgment from a lawsuit in order to stop someone from leaking information it may already be too late. However, an injunctive order can be brought much more rapidly than a civil judgment from a lawsuit, which means that you can prevent a person from leaking information as soon as possible. However, in order for a court to grant an injunction, the contract granting injunctive relief must be properly drafted. The only way to ensure that your Non-Disclosure Agreement gives you the right of injunctive relief is to have it drafted by a professional contract attorney.

Failing to Have Non-Disclosure Agreements can be Fatal to your Business

If you are allowing others to have access to sensitive information that you don’t want to be made public, it is absolutely essential that you have a Non-Disclosure Agreement in place. Failing to protect your sensitive information can result in others stealing your ideas or attacking and embarrassing your company. This can be fatal to a business and its reputation. Using generic web templates for a Non-Disclosure Agreement is insufficient, often times these generic forms are unenforceable in court and do not grant the power of injunctive relief. The Contract Law attorneys at Stoner Law Offices can help you draft an effective Non-Disclosure Agreement at an affordable rate. Don’t put yourself and your business at risk, call Stoner Law Offices to schedule a free consultation at 412-515-09