Ah, irony. American Media, Inc., publisher of such infamous tabloids as the National Engquirer and the Weekly World News, sued Stephanie Green, a former fact-checker for Star Magazine, because she intends to publish a fictional account of life at a tabloid magazine, Dishalicious. The lawsuit was foiled recently when the judge wouldn't permit discovery of the manuscript, which it was claimed violated the confidentiality agreement signed by Green as an employee.

Media Law Prof Blog has the order and a nice summary (American Media Loses in Attempt to Obtain Manuscript From Former Employee). Read the 10-page pre-trial discovery order: American Media, Inc. v. Stephanie Green [PDF].

Apparently, confidentiality agreements, at least in New York,

will be enforced only "if reasonably limited temporally and geographically, and to the extent necessary to protect the employer's use of trade secrets and confidential information.".... In this case, the Confidentiality Agreement cannot be enforced to prevent Green from using her observations regarding employees and supervisors at the Star, to write a fictional account since such information does not qualify as a trade secret, and is not otherwise entitled to confidentiality.[citations omitted]

[Green would] not write, speak or give interview, either directly or indirectly, on or off the record about your work at [AMI] including without limitation facts and information you have learned during your employment at [AMI] and about [your] assignements, for purposes of publication in any media in any way, directly or indirectly, without prior approval of [AMI].