Confidentiality agreements are agreements between parties to keep specified information confidential. Parties may be companies or individuals or a combination of these. One party may disclose confidential information to another, or both parties may exchange information.
Confidential information may be anything from a concept or business idea to a formula or plan to make something. As this type of confidential information may be difficult to protect under laws relating to other forms of intellectual property, such as trademarks or copyright, a confidentiality agreement may be an appropriate form of protection for the confidential information.
For information to be protected under a confidentiality agreement, information must have the necessary quality of confidence, that is, it cannot be information that is known to the public already. Information need not be novel, inventive or original, but must be some product of the mind that confers a confidential nature upon that information. To be protected, information must be provided in circumstances of confidentiality.
Parties can take legal action to protect confidential information. Please contact a solicitor using the AussieLegal Referral if you would like us to do this for you.
A confidentiality agreement should be used in any situation where you are disclosing information you do not want others to know.
Common situations in which confidentiality agreements are used include:
Generally, a confidentiality agreement will:
An agreement may take the form of a letter, an agreement signed by the parties or their authorised representatives.
A letter may be used in a less formal situation, and should be signed by both the disclosing and receiving parties, or their authorised representatives, acknowledging the terms on which confidential information is made available.
An agreement or a deed is a more formal document, and will usually be longer. Again, it should be signed by the parties or their authorised representatives.
AussieLegal offers affordable legal kits and paralegal services on a wide range of legal matters. Whilst we are not a law firm and are not permitted to provide legal advice, we work under a collaborative arrangement with a panel of independent law firms across Australia. Thus, allowing us to help our clients with more complex legal tasks that require formal legal advice.
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