The agreement may contain, in addition to a non-disclosure provision, a provision requiring the employee to not compete with the employer for a period of time following the termination of employment. Non-disclosure agreements are not used with just employees, but rather anyone who has access to the confidential information. A distinction needs to be made between agreements which have been read and those which have not. An agreement that has not been read may provide contract rights, but does not provide significant notice value. Agreements in Minnesota may also need to specify specific types of information that needs to remain confidential.
Vague contracts provide little, if any, notice.
Consider agreements for everyone who may have contact with sensitive information. Give the signer of the agreement a copy and place the other in the file. Signed contracts, along with audits, are perhaps the most powerful tools in trade secret law. Court's seem to decide for trade secret holder's in the presence of a contract and against the holder in the absence of a contract. They are used with permission of the Patent Cafe.