Many readers would have been asked at some time in their professional lives to sign a confidentiality agreement. This often happens when visiting another company's development facilities. All engineering companies have information that they would not like to fall into the hands of a competitor, and use of confidentiality agreements is one way of protecting it. What readers may not realise is that even without signing an agreement they must keep certain types of information confidential. This applies particularly strongly to employed engineers, who have significant obligations to their employers. This chapter describes those obligations, and sets out the background for protecting valuable information. The scope of the chapter is limited to engineering information in a commercial context. It does not consider government secrets, defence security, or literary or personal confidences.

Inspec keywords: industrial property; security of data

Other keywords: confidential information; company development facility; valuable information protection; engineering information; confidentiality agreement

Subjects: Legal aspects