Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreements
Confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements are affirmative "agreements" that accomplish three primary purposes: (1) they acknowledge that the individual has been or will be exposed to certain company trade secrets and other confidential and proprietary information; (2) they identify this information with at least some degree of particularity; and (3) they expressly obligate the employee, independent contractor, company visitor or whoever else signs the document to not use the information in any unauthorized manner, or to disclose it to any unauthorized person.
Although as discussed above, a trade secret claim does not require a written "agreement" to protect a company's trade secrets and other confidential information, it certainly does help when litigation occurs. In particular, the agreement will usually provide another avenue for breach of contract, and it definitely provides a judge or jury with a tangible document to reference while enabling some interesting cross-examination of the breaching party.