Caution

Creator Confidentiality Obligation

The contract requires you to keep brand information confidential. Scope, duration, carve-outs, and reciprocity all matter.

Show it
Look in the confidentiality, non-disclosure, or NDA section for phrases like "confidential information", "shall keep confidential", "hold in confidence", "shall not disclose", "proprietary information", or "trade secrets". Section headings like "Confidentiality" or "Non-Disclosure" signal the clause directly.
Decode it
Confidentiality is commercially routine but the specifics matter substantially. Where scope is broad ("any information learned during the engagement"), duration is indefinite or perpetual, and standard carve-outs are missing, the obligation restricts your information flow across your entire commercial practice - pitch materials, case studies, conversations with advisors, future engagement strategies. Materially worse when paired with injunctive-relief remedies and one-way structure (no reciprocal protection for your information).
Fix it
Push for five standard protections: narrow scope to named categories (trade secrets, financial, customer data, product roadmap), bounded duration (a defined period after the engagement), standard carve-outs (public domain, independent development, third-party source, legal compulsion), mutual reciprocity, and a carve-out for portfolio / case-study use of your own work. Most brands accept all five on request because they reflect standard NDA drafting.

What it means

This contract requires you to keep information from the brand confidential, typically including business strategy, financial details, product roadmaps, marketing plans, customer data, and the terms of the engagement itself. The obligation typically restricts what you can discuss in pitches, what can appear in case studies, what you can share with advisors, and how long the restriction lasts after the engagement.

The detail of a confidentiality clause decides what you cannot share, and for how long.

What to check before you sign

  • ·How is confidential information defined, closed list of named categories, or open-ended ("any information")?
  • ·What is the duration, engagement period only, defined tail, or indefinite/perpetual?
  • ·Are standard carve-outs included, public domain, independently developed, third-party source without confidentiality, legal compulsion?
  • ·Is the obligation mutual, does the brand owe an equivalent confidentiality obligation for your information?
  • ·What are the remedies for breach, damages only, injunctive relief, or both?
  • ·Are there carve-outs for portfolio use, case studies, and pitch materials?
  • ·What's the return-of-information obligation on engagement end?

How to fix it

  • Replace open-ended "any information" with a closed list of named categories (trade secrets, financial information, customer data, product roadmap, marketing plans).

  • Limit confidentiality duration to the engagement period plus a defined tail for ordinary confidential information. Trade secrets may legitimately have longer protection.

  • Add the four standard carve-outs: public domain, independently developed, received from a third party without confidentiality, required by law or court order.

  • Make the obligation mutual; both parties owe confidentiality to each other for respective confidential information.

  • Preserve the creator's ability to use the work in portfolio, case studies, and pitch materials, with the brand's confidential underlying information suitably anonymised where required.

Negotiating it

A good opening

"Could we firm up the confidentiality clause: narrow it to named categories, limit it to a set period after the engagement, add carve-outs for information that is public, developed independently, received from a third party or required by law, and make it mutual? "

When to walk away

Open-ended scope, perpetual duration, no standard carve-outs, one-way structure, automatic injunctive remedies, and refusal to accept any of the four standard protections is a strong walk-away signal. The structure restricts information flow across the creator's entire commercial practice with no time limit and no protection for the creator's own confidential information.

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Educational guidance, not legal advice. For high-value or complex deals, get independent legal advice from a qualified professional.