Does Your Company
Own What You Know ?
"In an increasingly cut-throat business environment,
more employees are grappling with restrictions on
what they can say, for whom they can work -- even
how they can use ideas they think up on company
time."
"This is the battleground of the new millennium."
"Tight labor markets have companies taking more
aggressive steps to protect what they believe is theirs."
"The Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which made
stealing trade secrets a Federal crime, also has raised
awareness and caused more employers to educate
workers about what is considered proprietary."
People are increasingly being interviewed for a job
when they don't have a clue about what the company
does. They are only told after they sign a Non-Disclosure
Agreement (NDA). In many cases, companies are
requiring all their suppliers and some customers to
sign NDAs.
"Employers are imposing such restraints in an extreme
effort to guard any information they believe provides
a competitive advantage." "Some, like Starbucks,
are telling even entry-level hires that they may have
to abide by agreements barring them from joining
competitors if they quit."
"Technology makes it easier for employees to purloin
information on disks or via email". "It is estimated
that U.S. industry lost $45 Billion in 1999 from trade
secret theft."
"Lawyers say companies often hope that non-disclosure
or non-compete agreements will have a chilling effect,
prompting employees to abide by the clauses simply
because they've been signed."
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