Contractor Gets Away With Trade Secrets

A Massachusetts court has ruled that a contractor that did not sign – and was not asked to sign – a confidentiality agreement cannot be sued for misappropriating trade secrets, in this case secrets that included customer lists and accounting information. There was neither a confidentiality agreement nor an explicit policy regarding trade secrets, the judge noted. This case, says one commentator, demonstrates a potential pitfall of retaining independent contractors in lieu of utilizing employees. “If a company wants to disclose confidential information to an independent contractor,” he says, “it should, at a bare minimum, have the individual sign a confidentiality agreement.”