Age old and really annoying question from the bean counters although in this case, quite valid.
You have to ask yourself a few questions:
- Is the recipient on a confidentiality agreement? Typically only valid for a number of years.
- Is the data for a customer entitled to a subset of the information?
- Is the data for a supplier who requires this information?
- Is the information being publicly disclosed?
- Is the information provided for patent applications?
- Is this data something that requires protection?
Most of these entities have an obligation to maintain confidentiality. The least "trustworthy" are customers.
For sensitive information, I rarely disclose everything. I may just make a skin model by removing all irrelevant detail to provide only the information requested. It is extra work, but it is also due diligence. People tend to want things to easy. Sometimes you have to work to protect your interest. I cannot count the number of times marketing has told me to just export something... HA!
You can also embed a few warnings in some cases. If you export PDF, there is a comment section. In most DXF exports, you can embed the confidentiality statement. You can even add this in the header of many file types. Not that people will pay attention to this but in court there will be a "I'll be damned" moment when you point out your actual due diligence! Most times this is already too late, but it is a very rare instance. today, reverse engineering is so easy you can hardly protect yourself without local and international patents.
If you want to protect a mechanism or method, it is best to keep it to yourself. There is typically much more to your intellectual property than the widget itself. Many times, the manufacturing method is just as proprietary.
