Non-Disclosure / Confidential Disclosure Agreement
A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), sometimes referred to as the confidentiality agreement is a legal instrument used to obligate two parties to protect privileged or proprietary information shared between the parties. Sometimes only one party is disclosing information so it is a one-way agreement, other times both parties share proprietary information, so it is a two-way agreement.
The commercialization of intellectual property requires legal protection by appropriate means. Prior to implementing legal means to protect the idea it is necessary to execute a non-disclosure agreement before sharing the enabling part of the intellectual property.
An NDA is critical during the period while a patent application is being prosecuted. Once a patent is issued then the information is part of the public domain; however, the ownership rights have been established with the grant of the patent. It is important to note that any additional information not covered by the patent is still protected by the NDA.
The NDA is intended to clarify the legal obligations and rights of both parties related to the information exchanged and how long the information will be kept confidential.