Re: Non-disclosure agreem

>> At 12:47 AM 4/7/94 -0400, Harry_s[_at_]holonet.net wrote:
>> >Analytically, this case appears not so different from the situation
>> >where I pay for publicly available information. If I go to Datasearch
>> >and ask them to look up an incorporation in the Secretary of State's
>> >files, and they charge me $50 for it, I could have done it myself.
>>
>> This is also the case for many searches on commercial providers which
>> sell searches of PD information. However, most of those companies also
>> have a contract that precludes you from reproducing and distributing the
>> results of your searches.
>>
>> ---
>> Glenn Tenney
>> tenney[_at_]netcom.com Amateur radio: AA6ER
>> (415) 574-3420 Fax: (415) 574-0546
>
>
>We may be mixing things up here. Of course there is nothing wrong with
>paying somebody to do something, even if it is collecting information
>that is in the public domain. That is a fee for services. The more
>difficult question is a contractual agreement not to disclose public
>domain information. That I think is nonenforceable unless the
>information is subject to copyright. Recognizing that there are
>circumstances in which one can achieve a copyright in the compilation
>of public domain informtion, may explain the contract of commercial
>providers.
>
>Harvey Perlman
>University of Nebraska
><hperlman[_at_]unlinfo.unl.edu>

I think Harvey is right in that the search company has sold their services and has a right to protect those services. They may be able contractually to prevent the results of their search from being distributed further, but they have no claim to the underlying information. Having the results of the search may allow the purchaser to trace the source of the original information himself much more cheaply this time; and I don't believe the NDA could prevent him from transferring the underlying data if he reacquired it independently of the original search.

This is really much more a question of unfair competition than it is one of any property right in the information itself.

Buford Terrell
<terrell[_at_]sugar.neosoft.com> Received on Sat Apr 09 1994 - 02:31:55 GMT