Trade Secret Agreement

DELAWARE TRADE-SECRET AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT PREPARATION PACKET

Important Use Gate

This packet is not an agreement and creates no confidentiality, use, security, ownership, payment, indemnity, dispute, or remedy obligation. Do not ask the project parties to sign it.

Use it to collect instructions for a Delaware attorney who will select current authority and prepare the actual agreement. Do not insert statutory language, a fixed deadline, an automatic remedy, or an enforceability conclusion from another state or an older form.

This packet does not replace a separately required employment, independent-contractor, invention-assignment, privacy, cybersecurity, health-information, financial-information, export-control, government-contract, source-code escrow, litigation, or regulated-data document.

1. Packet Control

2. Parties, Roles, and Relationship

2.1 Proposed Discloser

• Full legal name: [________________________________]
• Entity type and formation jurisdiction: [________________________________]
• Principal address: [________________________________]
• Notice contact: [________________________________]
• Authorized signer and title: [________________________________]
• Authority evidence supplied: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unresolved

2.2 Proposed Recipient

• Full legal name: [________________________________]
• Entity type and formation jurisdiction: [________________________________]
• Principal address: [________________________________]
• Notice contact: [________________________________]
• Authorized signer and title: [________________________________]
• Authority evidence supplied: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Unresolved

2.3 Relationship Classification

Select every potentially relevant relationship for counsel review:

• ☐ Prospective transaction
• ☐ Customer or vendor relationship
• ☐ Professional-services engagement
• ☐ Joint development or research
• ☐ Licensing discussion
• ☐ Due diligence or data-room access
• ☐ Employment
• ☐ Independent-contractor or consulting work
• ☐ Former worker or departing worker
• ☐ Litigation, investigation, or expert engagement
• ☐ Government or public-record interaction
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Classification issues and current-law sources for counsel: [____________________________________________________________]

3. Purpose and Disclosure Boundaries

Describe one specific permitted purpose. Avoid open-ended phrases such as “any business purpose.”

• Permitted purpose: [____________________________________________________________]
• Project start: [__/__/____]
• Expected completion: [__/__/____]
• Approved disclosure channels: [________________________________]
• Approved systems and storage locations: [________________________________]
• Approved geographic access locations: [________________________________]
• Disclosures before signing to address: [________________________________]
• Disclosures by affiliates or third parties to address: [________________________________]
• Information that must not be disclosed under this project: [________________________________]

4. Information Classification Register

Do not rely on a generic label alone. Identify what will actually be disclosed, who owns or controls it, why it is sensitive, and how it will be marked or recorded.

4.1 Trade-Secret Analysis for Counsel

For each category that may receive trade-secret treatment, record the current legal definition and apply every required element to the actual facts.

The executable agreement should distinguish contract-defined confidential information from information that independently qualifies for any statutory remedy.

5. Proposed Exclusions and Proof Method

For each proposed exclusion, state who bears the contractual proof burden and what records will be accepted.

Treatment of combinations, compilations, partial disclosures, and later-created material: [____________________________________________________________]

6. Authorized People and Access

Complete the proposed controls:

• Minimum-access rule: [________________________________]
• Approval process for additional people: [________________________________]
• Contractor and adviser flow-down process: [________________________________]
• Responsibility for an authorized person's conduct: [________________________________]
• Removal or offboarding process: [________________________________]
• Access-review frequency: [________________________________]
• Access-log owner and retention period: [________________________________]

7. Use, Copying, and Technical Activity

7.1 Proposed Uses

7.2 Ownership and License Instructions

• Existing ownership position: [________________________________]
• Limited permission needed for the purpose: [________________________________]
• No-license language requested: [________________________________]
• Feedback, improvements, inventions, or derivative rights: [________________________________]
• Jointly created material: [________________________________]
• Third-party material and license restrictions: [________________________________]
• Open-source or interoperability issue: [________________________________]

Counsel should coordinate these instructions with the transaction documents. This packet does not allocate ownership or grant a license.

8. Security Control Schedule

Security standard or exhibit to incorporate: [________________________________]

Conflict with an existing security, privacy, or records requirement: [________________________________]

9. Incident Response Instructions

• Events covered by contractual notice: [________________________________]
• Discovery, confirmation, or other notice trigger: [________________________________]
• Proposed notice period for counsel review: [________________________________]
• Notice recipient and method: [________________________________]
• Initial content: [________________________________]
• Update frequency: [________________________________]
• Containment authority: [________________________________]
• Evidence-preservation process: [________________________________]
• Forensic access and privilege protocol: [________________________________]
• Customer, regulator, insurer, or third-party coordination: [________________________________]
• Cost allocation: [________________________________]

Counsel must compare any contractual target with every independently applicable notice, cooperation, evidence, insurance, and regulatory requirement.

10. Compelled and Protected Communications Review

The executable agreement must be tailored so it does not require a person to give notice, seek permission, waive a protection, or limit a communication when controlling law does not permit that restriction.

Separate notice or acknowledgment required for the selected relationship: [YES / NO / UNRESOLVED]

11. Return, Destruction, and Retention

• Trigger: [REQUEST / PROJECT END / TERMINATION / DATE / OTHER]
• Information and copies covered: [________________________________]
• Return method: [________________________________]
• Deletion method and standard: [________________________________]
• Completion period proposed for counsel review: [________________________________]
• Certification signer and form: [________________________________]
• Routine backup treatment: [________________________________]
• Legal hold or dispute hold: [________________________________]
• Professional, tax, audit, insurance, or regulatory retention: [________________________________]
• Retained-copy access and use limits: [________________________________]
• Verification or audit evidence: [________________________________]

12. Duration and Termination Instructions

Do not use a contractual duration statement to declare that information qualifies as a trade secret or that a statutory period has been changed.

13. Employment and Restrictive-Covenant Gate

If the recipient is an employee, applicant, contractor, consultant, former worker, owner, seller, franchisee, or other service provider, counsel must separately classify every restriction.

Do not add a noncompetition or nonsolicitation term merely because the agreement concerns confidential information.

14. Regulated and Third-Party Information Gate

15. Remedies and Risk Allocation Schedule

This packet does not promise an injunction, presume irreparable harm, waive security or bond, award damages, create a penalty, shift fees, impose indemnity, or limit liability. Counsel should draft only the selected terms after analyzing the relationship, information, bargaining context, insurance, claims, and current law.

16. Dispute and Forum Schedule

No arbitration, exclusive forum, jury waiver, bond waiver, fee shift, or confidentiality rule applies merely because a field appears in this packet.

17. General-Term Instructions

18. Exhibits and Attachments

19. Counsel Completion Record

Before releasing an executable agreement, qualified Delaware counsel should confirm:

☐ The correct parties, signers, roles, and relationship are identified.

☐ The permitted purpose and actual information categories are specific.

☐ Contract confidential information is separated from any statutory trade-secret analysis.

☐ Every retained statutory definition, protected-communication provision, deadline, limitation, and remedy is grounded in current authority.

☐ Employment, contractor, invention, nonsolicitation, noncompetition, and ownership-sale issues are separately classified.

☐ Security, incident, return, deletion, backup, and retention terms match actual systems and other obligations.

☐ Required or protected communications are not conditioned on notice or permission where the controlling rule does not allow it.

☐ Indemnity, insurance, liability limits, damages exclusions, fees, cure, and equitable relief are consciously selected and coordinated.

☐ Governing law, forum, venue, arbitration, jury, confidentiality, and interim-relief terms are separately reviewed.

☐ Every exhibit and incorporated document is attached, versioned, and consistent.

☐ No unresolved instruction, blank selection, internal note, or alternative remains in the executable agreement.

• Reviewing attorney: [________________________________]
• Delaware bar number: [________________________________]
• Review date: [__/__/____]
• Approved agreement version: [________________________________]
• Remaining conditions to release: [________________________________]

End of preparation packet. Do not add party signature or notary blocks to this packet.