Dear Rich: I just found out that a contract sewing employee I had sign an NDA is making my product! What can I do to stop him? An NDA is helpful if you want to stop someone from disclosing or using your secrets. So if the contractor took a confidential process or secret information, you can sue. If, however, your products are publicly available and there is no secret element in their production or marketing, you may have a hard time claiming trade secret
theft and violation of the NDA.
What else? If you have a
noncompete provision and your state enforces noncompetes, you also may have a solid claim. Is your product protected under
copyright or
trade dress laws? That may be a way to stop copying.
Bottom line dept. Assuming this product is important to your business, you should have a lawyer look at your agreement and your product.
