Sample Illinois Non-Disclosure Agreement
Your Guide on The Non-Disclosure Agreement in Illinois
Even after working with some employees for years and making groundbreaking innovations, you cannot trust that those individuals will not be driven by greed to want to create a business that would compete directly with you, right? In this article, we present you with the document that will ensure you keep your guard up at all times, protecting your business interests and the trade secrets that are the determinants of your business and economic value.
The document you are looking for is a non-disclosure agreement or a confidentiality agreement in Illinois. This agreement represents the contract that will keep one party to the agreement or even both parties from revealing your trade secrets to third parties. The non-disclosure document or an NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties involved, and it is effective in protecting secret/ proprietary information.
The contract drawn to keep the business secrets will create a legal obligation which forces privacy while compelling the parties involved to keep the information as secure as possible.
Using a free non-disclosure agreement in Illinois or a CA (confidential agreement), you are able to protect your sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands, you will keep your patent rights after the development of new concepts or products, and you will be able to outline information that you consider private as well as what you consider fair game.
Creating the NDA in Illinois
To create a valid and enforceable NDA, you must first get a non-disclosure form. Once you have the template for your free Illinois non-disclosure form, you will have to indicate the information that you consider confidential. The definition of the information is the most important element of the contract, and so, if you need to categorize that information, you should make the necessary steps. By naming the specific element that you consider confidential, it's possible to establish the consideration or the subject rules for the contract without having to release the specifics like numbers or names.
Your free NDA must contain the details of the things you wish to exclude from the protection of the contract. Often, the exclusions cover the details that are considered public/ common knowledge or the information that the recipient could have collected before the signing of the contract.
It's also important to note down the explicit obligations of the person that is receiving the confidential information as well as the limits to the use of the information. By outlining the obligations of the parties beforehand, you are certain that the parties will not breach the agreement or even encourage others to breach the contract using an unconventional method.
You also have to indicate how long the NDA will be enforceable. That is the time during which the recipient must stay mum about the information in the NDA.
Next, you have to gather all the parties involved and have them sign and date the contract. Often, and in serious contracts, it is recommended to sign the document in the presence of the notary public. The notary will acknowledge the identity of the parties involved and authenticate the NDA.
Types of NDAs
There are unilateral and bilateral or mutual NDAs. The unilateral NDAs are the contracts created between two parties and where the recipient is the only party expected to keep mum about the information, and if they share the information with third parties, they will be held liable. On the other hand, you have the bilateral or the mutual NDAs that are signed by two parties who have to promise to keep the information in the NDA secretive. Often, the bilateral NDA is signed by partners and by signing the document, the parties agree that they will keep the information about the other safe.
When do you need an NDA?
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The NDAs and the CAs are common in the corporate world today. Some of the information covered by NDAs include:
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Doctor-patient confidentiality
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Attorney-client privilege
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Business Models
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Design plans for new products or tools
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Lab results in labs
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Press releases or embargoed reviews.
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Employees and employers
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In upper management job interviews, interviews with vendors, or when hiring consultants
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Non-compete agreements
While the non-disclosure agreement limits the employee from disclosing trade secrets, the non-compete takes thing a notch higher by prohibiting the employee from working for the competition for a specific duration of time, not just keeping secrets. For its enforcement, the non-compete must be reasonable in terms of its scope, time and the geography, it must protect a legitimate business interest, and it should not create a substantial level of hardship on the person.
Keep in mind that the non-competes are more restrictive than the confidentiality or the non-disclosure and even the non-solicitation agreements.
Are you planning to create an NDA for your business? Get started with our free non-disclosure form available online from all cities in Illinois including Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, Champaign, Joliet, Naperville, and Elgin among others.
Sample
IL Non-Disclosure Agreement
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