PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WITH NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

An NDA agreement refers to a contract between two or more parties, asking them to keep some kind of information to them only as confidential and private and it is not meant to be shared with anyone else. An NDA is generally made during the course of any business activity like partnerships, mergers, etc, during such happenings private information is shared. The main crux of these agreements is intellectual property because for any organization the most valuable asset is their property and it should be safeguarded at any cost.

Business Nov 12, 2020 0 Add to Reading List

PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WITH NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

Introduction

An NDA agreement refers to a contract between two or more parties, asking them to keep some kind of information to them only as confidential and private and it is not meant to be shared with anyone else. An NDA is generally made during the course of any business activity like partnerships, mergers, etc, during such happenings private information is shared. The main crux of these agreements is intellectual property because for any organization the most valuable asset is their property and it should be safeguarded at any cost.

Intellectual Property

The legal fraternity has recognized the fact that an idea of a person is their property and thus is entitled to protection through legal compliance. IP is an area of law that gives protection to people against their work in form of copyright, patents, trademarks and etc. One of the important features of IP is that it provides legal protection only for the work which has been published in tangible form. It should be some kind of physical form like products manufactured by a company, a book written by an author and etc. A person is not entitled to IP if the idea is just in mind and not on papers.

How NDAs are Used?

NDAs also refers to certain information about intellectual property like confidential documents, trade secrets, copyrighted work and etc. In today’s time, the most successful people would rely on signing the agreement before making any deal further. It has become one of the important tasks in any business activity for the protection against the law. It’s one of the best uses of an NDA because if a deal doesn’t go right in the future then the agreement would ensure that the future products are safe and secured and the other company could not be benefited from it. And it will also ensure that their already existing customers remain protected by their trade secrets. And another noted aspect is that people won’t even tell you the idea before making sure that it’s on papers and you are liable to sign it.

Take the example of Johns Hopkins University, for instance, all of their existing researchers are requested to sign the agreement while hiring so that they can safeguard their patents, business plans, and other confidential information.

To know more about, a non-disclosure agreement(NDA), see the video below-

Protection of an Idea with Remedy

The law differentiates between an idea or a concept that’s in our head and an idea that’s actually been stated in some physical form. For example, you have an idea of inventing a machine that can solve the water cruises which is prevalent in society and that idea has been stuck in your mind for a few months. And if you are able to make that idea into reality then will the NDA protect your concept?

The answer is no because, for instance, you tell someone that you have an idea about something but before discussing you want him to sign an NDA. So obviously this won’t work out as most professionals in the market would not sign it as he really doesn’t know what it’s all about. It’s like you are pointing him of doing something wrong which he actually doesn’t have an idea about. And moreover, the chances of him stealing your idea, pitching as its own, and then selling it to potential people is quite low, it’s not that rare but still stealing ideas is much more difficult than people may think. And lastly, your idea is just an idea and no matter how well you have put it in your NDA, your idea will get no protection under the law until you have expressed your idea in some tangible form. Only then it will be taken as intellectual property in the eyes of the law. Even if the person has signed the agreement it would not hold for any basis in the court as the NDA aims to safeguard physical IP and not just an idea in mind.

What one can do is for making such kind of an NDA worthy is apply for the patent, trademark, or copyright. The patent doesn’t even need a prototype to be made for a patent to get sanctioned. All one has to do is describe your idea in such a way that others could make and use it. It also has to be unique and can also be a modified version of an already existing idea. Once you get a patent then you are within your rights to get your patent signed by another person. Another way is to put your idea into an identifiable format. Document it, write it down to get it into a physical form so that the law will recognize that your idea is no longer just an idea but an actual piece f IP that given protection under the law.

Conclusion

These kinds of agreements are very essential for doing business because they safeguard what keeps business going. And in order for your NDA to be worthy, you have to make sure that your idea has either been put onto paper, plastic, or code or you have got the protection through the required patent, copyright, trademark office. An idea is just an idea but an idea that we can see is Intellectual property and that’s what it matters while signing the agreement.

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