Download the Vermont Non-Disclosure Agreement, a business document that protects businesses, inventors, and other professionals from having their trade secrets stolen and/or leaked. Also called a “confidentiality agreement,” the document is commonly used in situations where secretive information needs to be discussed with persons outside of the company or group. Under Vermont’s Trade Secret Laws, confidential information (i.e. a “trade secret”) is defined as information that derives value from being shielded from public knowledge.
The information may take a range of forms, from devices and methods to formulas and programs. Should the party on the receiving end of the trade secrets unlawfully disclose them, they can be required to pay for damages, pay for the other party’s attorney’s fees, or face a court-order for them to stop using the secrets. More often than not, the act of merely signing an NDA provides as enough dissuasion to prevent information from being leaked in the first place.
“Trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:
(A) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and
(B) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.[1]