The 7th Circuit ruled in favor of Defendants Block and Company, Inc. on October 22, 2014 on the issue of breach of confidentiality agreement. The Court cited a previous 7th Circuit case which stated that in the 7th Circuit, courts “will enforce [confidentiality] agreements only when the information sought to be protect is actually confidential and reasonable efforts were made to keep it confidential.” See Tax Track Sys. Corp. v. New Investor World, Inc., 478 F.3d 783, 787 (7th Cir.2007).
Since the Plaintiff nClosures Inc. did not make additional efforts to have individuals who access the designs at issue sign confidentiality agreements, keep the designs under lock and key, or store the designs on a limited-access computer, the Court found that nClosures did not engage in “reasonable steps” to protect the confidentiality of its designs. Therefore, the Court concluded that confidentiality agreement between nClosures and Block and Company is unenforceable as a matter of law.