Jess is an e-learning specialist working for an Australian company that works for government agencies in the defence field. As part of signing her employment contract, she signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement, contractually agreeing that she will not disclose to anyone any information related to the work she would be conducting during her work at the company. Part of the contract also stated that any intellectual property she would be producing in her role in the company would be owned by the company. Jess was extremely successful in her role, and one of her contributions was to develop a suite of online training programs that were commissioned by a naval agency.

After five years of service at the company, Jess moved on to assume another senior role in another company (still in Australia), where she now works on the development of e-learning training programs, mainly for private companies. She understands that she cannot use any of the materials she developed at her previous company, but wonders if the specific ideas, such as types of online lessons and their combinations, could be applied to the projects she now works on.

7a) If Jess were to use some ideas from her previous role for projects at her current company, would those ideas be protected by copyrights held by her previous company? Answer yes or no (2 marks), and briefly explain why (3 marks).

7b) What is the implication of the Non-Disclosure Agreement in Jess' contract? Explain how (if at all) this could potentially limit or affect Jess's use of the ideas she would like to use in her current company in her new role.