A nondisclosure agreement (NDA), or confidentiality agreement, is exactly what it sounds like. An agreement between two or more parties not to disclose information that one or more of the other parties provides to them. Inventors commonly use nondisclosure agreements so that the inventor can show his or her invention to somebody else without fear that the other person will take the idea and claim it as their own.
You can get a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) for free or for a small fee on various websites. But be careful. Nondisclosure agreements are based on state law and are not particular to the U.S. Patent Law. Therefore, the requirements may vary from state to state.
Use a nondisclosure agreement you find on the Internet at your own peril. That is, recognize that if you ever go to enforce your nondisclosure agreement, a court may find one or more provisions or terms of the agreement to be invalid, and the court may even declare the entire agreement to be invalid and unenforceable.
It is best to use a nondisclosure agreement that your attorney has provided to you. Many patent attorneys offer nondisclosure agreements to their clients for free or for a nominal fee when a client hires the attorney do other work, such as filing a patent application for their invention.
Read “Should I use a nondisclosure agreement (NDA)?” for more warnings before using a nondisclosure agreement to disclose your invention.
