Kavitha Gupta's blog

Confidentiality in anti-dumping investigations: Supreme Court interprets Rule7 Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan India May 22 2017 A key feature of anti-dumping investigations is the protection available to commercially sensitive information that interested parties provide to an investigating authority. The idea is that such sensitive information should remain in the safe hands of the authority and must not fall in the hands of opposing parties, who may gain commercial advantage from such information. However, this protection is available with some conditions. Rule 7 of the Anti-dumping Rules [see end note 1] (“AD Rules”) provides that a party may claim confidentiality on information, and further, the conditions to be fulfilled when such a claim is made. Rule 7 has been borrowed in the AD Rules from Article 6.5 of the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement. Before we discuss Rule 7, let us look at the following situations that may arise in anti-dumping investigations: Situa...

Enforceability of secrecy clauses in India - What is ‘reasonable’? Krishna & Saurastri Associates LLP prev next India December 6 2016 It is widely known that trade secrets or confidential information do not receive statutory protection in India, and the same are typically protected contractually vide non-disclosure agreements (“NDA”) and/or secrecy clauses embedded within a master agreement. Due to the increased focus on protection of trade secrets in commercial transactions and employment/service contracts, it is important to explore the validity and enforceability of non-disclosure or secrecy obligations during the term and post the termination of such contracts.  Earlier decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and other subordinate judicial fora in India indicate that the key issues debated upon while deciding the validity and enforceability of secrecy clauses post-termination inter alia include, i) whether confidential information or a tra...

5 Key Considerations When Negotiating an Executive Employment Agreement By: Andrew Sherrod Hiring and retaining capable executives who can drive performance is a top priority for most any business. Companies should want to incentivize management employees to meet their goals and, at the same time, protect themselves from poor performance or incidents of misconduct. Talented executives with coveted skills and experience have their own expectations and requirements concerning compensation, performance criteria, benchmarking, etc. To maintain the proper balance between the interests of the company and the executive, drafting effective employment agreements for key personnel is essential. While not an exhaustive list, below are five important aspects of executive employment agreements that will nearly always warrant consideration during the negotiation process. 1. Protect the Company’s Confidential Information and Property Senior management employees typically have access to sen...

Eighth Circuit Finds Non-Competition Agreements Assignable to Successor Employer in Asset Purchase Without Employees' Consent Ford & Harrison LLP prev next USA July 11 2016 Executive Summary :  The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently held that a successor employer, who was assigned non-competition agreements as part of an asset purchase, could seek to enforce the non-competition agreements under Missouri law against two former employees of the predecessor who went to work for a competitor. Reversing the district court's order granting summary judgment to the former employees on the basis that the non-competition agreements were "personal service contracts" and could not be assigned without the employees' consent, the Court of Appeals in  Symphony Diagnostic Services No. 1 Inc. v. Greenbaum  found that that the non-competition agreements were not personal service contracts and, therefore, could...

Data Protection Authority backs decision to suspend employee for unauthorised access to company data Newsletters March 16 2016 | Contributed by Stanchi Studio Legale The Data Protection Authority recently found that an employer's decision to suspend an employee was legitimate in light of its right to defence against the employee's breach of Article 24 of the Privacy Code and Articles 2104 and 2015 of the Civil Code. Facts An employee appealed to the Data Protection Authority against his employer processing his personal data, which was stored on his work computer. The computer had been seized when the employee was suspended. It was subsequently subjected to a content check and a copy of the hard disk was made. The employee challenged the employer's actions as unlawful and arbitrary due to the absence of assurances regarding "the immutability of the contents of the PC" and the fact that the data acquisition took place "in his absence an...

When employees leave: Non-compete agreements and protecting confidential information Soewito Suhardiman Eddymurthy Kardono prev next Indonesia December 14 2015 Indonesian labor and employment laws do not expressly impose or regulate non-competition obligations of employees with the exception of the Chief Representative of the local representative office of an overseas principal. However, Indonesian law recognizes the principle of freedom of contract. This principle is codified in Articles 1337 and 1338 of the Indonesian Civil Code (the Civil Code). The parties to a contract are free to include any provisions they wish, subject only to the mandatory provisions of Indonesian law, as well as the general principles that contract terms must be implemented in good faith and not contrary to public order. With regard to non-competition during the period of employment, it is essential to include a provision in the employment agreement imposing a duty on th...