Download Mississippi Non-Disclosure Agreement Template [PDF]

The Mississippi non-disclosure agreement (NDA), or confidential disclosure agreement, is a legal document that sets the terms and conditions for the protection of certain business and trade secrets shared between the parties signing the NDA.

The main goal of this document is to prevent the unauthorized sharing of confidential information with the public.

What is a Trade Secret in Mississippi?

In Mississippi, a trade secret is proprietary information that is essential to the business's success or operation, is not publicly known, and is kept confidential as it is considered the competitive advantage of that business.

Types of Non-Disclosure Agreements

In Mississippi, there are two types of non-disclosure agreement forms, depending on which party is obliged to keep the shared information confidential:

Two Types of Non-Disclosure Agreements

Unilateral NDA: Here, only one party is signing the document and taking the obligation not to make the shared information publicly available. This type of NDA is mostly used by companies and their employees.
Mutual NDA: Here, all parties signing the document accept the obligation not to share confidential information with third parties.

Legal Requirements for Mississippi Non-Disclosure Agreement

This section presents the legal framework for the Mississippi non-disclosure agreement template:

Mandatory Requirements

Statutes: § 75-26-1 to 75-26-19
Definitions: § 75-26-3
Statute of limitations: An action for misappropriation must be brought within three years after the misappropriation is discovered. (§ 75-26-13)

What Can a Non-Disclosure Agreement Be Used For in Mississippi?

In Mississippi, the non-disclosure agreement can be used in various situations, depending on what type of information should be protected.

Therefore, we have different reasons why the parties chose to issue the NDA:

Non-Disclosure Agreements Uses and Scopes

Protection of business information: Used to protect business and trade secrets during the interaction between business entities and their partners, suppliers, vendors, and other third parties.
Protection of intellectual property: Parties can use the NDA to protect their creative work, inventions, software, or other types of intellectual property other parties have access to during their interaction.
Protection of information connected with litigation: Used by the parties that want to keep confidential the details of their dispute settlement agreement.
Protection of information during employment: The NDA is often signed with the employees before their employment starts. It is used to protect the sensitive business information employees get access to during their employment.

Mississippi Non-Disclosure Agreement FAQ

Yes, the NDA is a legally binding document in Mississippi. However, for the document to be fully binding for all the parties, each party must have the legal capacity to sign it.
No, the Mississippi NDA doesn’t need to be signed in front of a witness to be valid. However, the parties can always decide to include the witness signatures to confirm the authenticity of the document.
Yes, you can decline to sign the NDA in Mississippi. However, before doing so, you should carefully consider the consequences that action might have on the relationship between you and the party issuing the NDA.