Always read the entire NDA, aka disclosure, or non-disclosure document. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff some clueless anal attorneys have put in them. What's worse, the BS text always gets carried forward to the next revision and from company to company.
In 1978, my partner at the time and I invented a circuit that turned out to be the best electronic gain (volume) control around, and it was designed to be made into an integrated circuit. When we went to shop it to the IC companies, several of them had NDA's with text that essentially said:
We will not be responsible for the security of your information, if, after you disclosing it, we independently invent it, ourselves.
At the time, our patent attorney wised us up in a hurry, and when we were negotiating with National Semiconductor, they removed that language only after I personally faced off with their attorney and threatened to walk out on them. Later on, we got so disgusted, we ended up writing our own
very inventor oriented agreement which I have used ever since. My policy has been that I would sign either side of our agreement because I was always willing to protect anyone disclosing information to me as much as I wanted to be protected when I was doing the disclosure. A number of my professional colleagues also use our document.
Need a good one written in English, instead of legalese gibberish? PM or
e-mail me.
Funny -- You don't look gibberish.
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