Validity of NDA after termination
Thread poster: Peter Motte
Peter Motte
Peter Motte  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 11:35
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Nov 23, 2020

A company send me an NDA today and the demanded that the NDA would be valid during 20 years ater termination of the contract.
That means if they give me a short job of e.g. 100 euro's for Ford, I can't work for Ford anymore for 20 years after taking on that job.
It also means that they could block my entire professionale life after a few months, by always giving me short jobs for various clients.
I'm willng to agree that a certain time after the end of the contract is acceptabl
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A company send me an NDA today and the demanded that the NDA would be valid during 20 years ater termination of the contract.
That means if they give me a short job of e.g. 100 euro's for Ford, I can't work for Ford anymore for 20 years after taking on that job.
It also means that they could block my entire professionale life after a few months, by always giving me short jobs for various clients.
I'm willng to agree that a certain time after the end of the contract is acceptable, but 20 years is completely unacceptable.
They don't even demand 20 years for the top jobs in F1.
I wonder whether 20 years is even remotely legal.

What are your thoughts on the subject?
Does somebody has any idea about legally acceptable periods and about the validity of such long periods?

[Edited at 2020-11-23 20:31 GMT]
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Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:35
Danish to English
+ ...
Non-competition agreement Nov 23, 2020

What you describe is not an NDA but a non-competition agreement.

A non-competition agreement shouldn't survive much longer than a year after termination of contract. 20 years is totally unacceptable.


Peter Motte
Zibow Retailleau
Omer Dasbilek
Kevin Fulton
Yolanda Broad
Dan Lucas
Arianne Farah
 
Sadek_A
Sadek_A  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:35
English to Arabic
+ ...
Why not?! Nov 23, 2020

You, too, demand that they remain your bit** for 20 years, in writing!

A "legal" contract is a 2-way street.


Adieu
 
Peter Motte
Peter Motte  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 11:35
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Third-part agreement Nov 23, 2020

The title of the document is actually "Third-part agreement", and on the webpage where they tell you to download and sign it, they write "Download NDA for signing".
The note about the 20 year periode is part of it.
So, it's actually more a "non-competition term" as part of the NDA.

Anyway: thank you for clarifying it.

BTW: the company has a very bad reputation on Proz.com when it comes to payment. So, it's apparantly not their only problem.


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:35
Danish to English
+ ...
Payment Nov 23, 2020

If they have a bad payment reputation, why even bother reading their legal paperwork? Waste of time. Run.

Thomas Pfann
Yolanda Broad
Arianne Farah
Elena Aclasto
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Sheila Wilson
Christophe Delaunay
 
Peter Motte
Peter Motte  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 11:35
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Bad Rep Nov 23, 2020

I noticed their bad reputation a bit later. It was also a bit hidden. You have to jump from one connected company to the other.

Emanuele Vacca
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 11:35
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Double red flag then. Nov 23, 2020

Peter Motte wrote:

I noticed their bad reputation a bit later. It was also a bit hidden. You have to jump from one connected company to the other.


Just find better companies then. 20 years? Their own company may not last that long.


 
Peter Motte
Peter Motte  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 11:35
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Dying company Nov 23, 2020

I have the feeling they ask such impossable time because they are on the brink of collapsing, and are trying everything they can find to stay alive.

[Edited at 2020-11-23 22:44 GMT]


 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 04:35
Dutch to English
+ ...
It's still your decision Nov 23, 2020

Could it have been an error and they meant 2 years? Even so, that's longer than the usual 1-year term. If there is anything in an NDA or other contract that you don't agree with, you can always just scratch it out and write in what you are willing to agree to. Often, it is accepted without further ado.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Peter Motte
Peter Motte  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 11:35
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Mentioned more than once Nov 24, 2020

Tina Vonhof wrote:

Could it have been an error and they meant 2 years?


It's mentioned three times, so I don't think it's a mistake.

Anyway, as it turns out that they are bad payers, I don't want to take it up with them.


 
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
IS there actually any record of a non-compete for a CONTRACTOR successfully enforced? Dec 30, 2020

Check. It might well be unenforceable.

In this specific case, don't work with them anyway (and out them by name if they're known-dodgy and trying to hide it), but in other cases... check.

Some ridiculous contract clauses are impossible to enforce and nobody even tries anyway.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:35
French to English
. Dec 31, 2020

Peter Motte wrote:

A company send me an NDA today and the demanded that the NDA would be valid during 20 years ater termination of the contract.
That means if they give me a short job of e.g. 100 euro's for Ford, I can't work for Ford anymore for 20 years after taking on that job.
It also means that they could block my entire professionale life after a few months, by always giving me short jobs for various clients.
I'm willng to agree that a certain time after the end of the contract is acceptable, but 20 years is completely unacceptable.
They don't even demand 20 years for the top jobs in F1.
I wonder whether 20 years is even remotely legal.

What are your thoughts on the subject?
Does somebody has any idea about legally acceptable periods and about the validity of such long periods?

[Edited at 2020-11-23 20:31 GMT]

To make sure you comply with the agreement, you'll need them to send you their entire client file. After all, it's not always clear who their end client is. I have been doing translations for a well-known French multinational, but the agency's client is the PR firm for that multinational, and I have no idea what the PR firm's name is.


Adieu
 


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Validity of NDA after termination







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