The law of confidential information can protect material ranging from source code, algorithms and technical processes to pricing, customer information, business plans and commercial strategies, provided the information has the necessary quality of confidence and is treated as confidential.
The Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018 provide a statutory framework for qualifying trade secrets alongside the longstanding law of confidence. Contractual duties, employment obligations, data protection law and intellectual property rights may also be relevant.
Waterfront’s specialist confidential information and trade secrets lawyers help clients:
A common protection is a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). An NDA can define what is confidential, permitted uses and disclosures, who may receive information, how long obligations last and what happens when discussions or a project end.
NDAs should be tailored to the transaction. Residual knowledge, compelled disclosure, IP ownership and return or destruction obligations can materially affect risk.
Waterfront’s NDA lawyers draft and negotiate one-way and mutual NDAs and review agreements proposed by counterparties. We focus on provisions that matter commercially and identify restrictions that could inadvertently limit future business activity or use of independently developed information.
NDAs are only one part of an effective strategy. Businesses should also control how sensitive information is classified, accessed, transferred and handled when employees, consultants or commercial partners leave.
Our lawyers act across technology, software, financial services, professional services, engineering and consumer sectors, advising on prevention and disputes involving unauthorised copying, retention, disclosure or use.
We also carry out confidentiality and trade-secret risk reviews covering contracts, policies, access arrangements and exit procedures.
Technology businesses face particular risks around source code, models, datasets, architecture and development know-how. Copyright, database rights or patents may help, but confidentiality and trade-secret protection often remains critical.
Where employees, developers or consultants have access to sensitive systems or code, suitable contractual duties should be combined with proportionate technical controls, access restrictions and audit logs.
Waterfront’s confidentiality lawyers can help clients improve their processes and legal protections so risks are identified early and managed proportionately.
Confidential information disputes often overlap with employment law when employees, directors or consultants leave for a competitor. Our IP disputes and employment teams work together on duties of confidence, restrictive covenants, ownership and urgent enforcement.
Where information has been misused, speed can be critical. We advise urgently on evidence preservation, undertakings, interim injunctions and applications made without notice where the legal test and circumstances justify that approach.
Our team has experience litigating confidential information and trade-secret disputes and dealing with urgent remedies, including search orders and injunctions, as well as challenging such applications for defendants.
Search orders are exceptional remedies designed to preserve evidence at serious risk of destruction or concealment. Members of our team also have experience acting as supervising solicitors.
For advice on protecting know-how, trade secrets or confidential information, drafting or negotiating NDAs, carrying out a risk review or responding to suspected misuse, please contact our specialist team.
Intellectual Property