Nondisclosure Agreement Found to Fall Short Without an Accompanying Non-Compete

In the back and forth battle between companies and former employees regarding the confidential nature of customer information, the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska has just issued a decision of note in Softchoice Corp. v. MacKenzie, 08-cv-00249. By the decision, the Court dismissed the action as against the defendant, finding that despite plaintiff’s treatment of the information as secret, had plaintiff truly wished to protect the information it should have had defendant enter into a properly tailored covenant not to compete instead of only having him sign a nondisclosure agreement.

The action was brought by Softchoice against MacKenzie, a former employee, alleging the usual panoply of claims: breach of confidentiality, misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential business information, unfair competition and tortious interference with business relations. The confidential information was alleged to be customer contact information and pricing. MacKenzie had not signed a non-compete covenant, but had signed a nondisclosure agreement.

To read this blog post click here