California Non-Disclosure Agreement Template

A California non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal document that protects a company’s important and valuable knowledge from getting into the wrong hands. Customarily, it is signed between a person that discloses information and a the entity that will be learning it. However, it can also be used in mutual cases where both parties will be disclosing secrets to each other.

It’s used in a wide range of scenarios to protect information from being exposed, including discussing business mergers, pitching newly developed technology to investors, or hiring new employees.

Laws

• Laws:Title 5, “Uniform Trade Secrets Act”
• Statute of Limitations (§ 3426.6): 3 years
• Definition of “Trade Secret” (§ 3426.1): Can include information that exists as a “formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process” that:
  1. Is valuable from it not being known (or easily known) to the general public and those that could use the information to benefit themselves, and
  2. The entity that owns the information is making a reasonable effort to maintain the information’s secrecy.