If it wasn’t clear until now let’s clear it all up. We live in a high technology world and this means a lot of things. One of those things is tech breakthroughs that will change the course of the way we live and with that comes a battle. This battle is lead between corporations and it is for the first place in whatever is supposed to change the life we live now.
If you look back 10 or 15 years back industry achieved a great breakthrough and it was mainly in robotics. Robots revolutionized the car industry for instance by taking over repetitive and menial jobs. From there they advanced and now take over the types of jobs that need precision and 100% certainty that everything is done the way it is supposed to be.
Why am I starting with a brief history lesson when this should revolve around NDAs? Well, Non-Disclosure Agreements peaked with breakthroughs in the technology world and quickly became a common form of legal control. Companies that produce high-end tech stuff usually need second opinions or even someone to license a certain product, but before they can have anyone snooping around their next big thing that is top secret, they will ask you to sign an NDA. But why exactly would you need and agreement of this sort? Well, if you want to educate yourself further read more here or continue reading.
Small businesses
As a small business owner, an NDA is very important for you. The NDA will secure your communication with your potential partner, existing business partner or even when it is with an employee in question. Owning a business is difficult enough without having to worry about your partners or employees walking around and sharing things about what you do to their friends and family. Maybe you are onto something big and the amount of info in the air will greatly affect the outcome of your project. In those cases, confidentiality is key and the NDA is there for you to make sure that the chatter is down to a minimum and that all parties that signed such a document will abide by it.
Trade secrets
This is important for all – big or small businesses. Trade secrets are something that a business might revolve around and leaking just one out, accidentally or not might mean you will soon be out of business because someone somewhere has an idea how to upgrade that trade and make it faster and profitable. When you are about to make a significant upgrade to your trade and you have to hire someone outside of your company to do that, the NDA is a must and there is no thinking about it. This way you will limit the information between party or parties of interest and you will make sure that nothing important gets out and gets into the air.
Strategic alliance
Now at every point in time, a big or small business decides it’s time for a leap forward and it is usually carried out through strategic alliances. These types of alliances are very complicated because they can be carried out in your market or market elsewhere in the world. A good and protective NDA here can mean that any intensions, products, financial things don’t leak out where they don’t need. Sometimes these strategic alliances thrive on secrecy and the surprise factor, which will make it even more successful, more so if it is the kind of alliance that will make a product go wild on the stock market.
Tech research and development
If you are in a business that does a lot of research and development for certain products than this type of agreement is something that will imperative for what you do. Technical, engineering and scientific research, development methodology, devices and processes are something highly risky and prone to corporate espionage which is why a tough and hard to break Non-Disclosure Agreement is of the utmost importance. All your work and effort might turn into a disaster if just one vital information gets into the wrong hands.
Patents
When it comes to patents it is also important to protect them with an ironclad NDA. We are all aware that new technologies and products can make or break a certain company, especially in this time of age when it is a true cutthroat competition. Getting somewhere first and doing it without competition knowledge is very important if you want to stay on top of your market and one way to ensure your patents stay protected is by using the NDA. This way you will have peace of mind and can hope for the next best thing in the tech world.
Company details
NDAs can be applied inside your business and can protect the amount of information that is free to roam in public. Some companies opt to not disclose their financial information, future financial plans, sometimes it is employees’ incomes or even their promotion plans and bonuses. With NDA you can protect any aspect of your business as long as you or the law deems it important and subject to a confidentiality agreement. With this, you can withhold information from other companies and stop them from snooping around in search of your next big breakthrough or even something industry-changing.
This might sound like a weird move but when it comes to business secrets, every little change in it might hint to someone else that something is stirring inside. If your employees from a certain division start working overtime or start getting bonuses and promotions, that could be a hint that something big has happened and that reward program from inside your company has started paying out.
What is important to know here that while the NDA might sound simple enough it isn’t. As stated by GateKeeperHQ this is for all intended purposes a contract and a legal one for that matter that will bind you to something. This is a foundation for every company or inventor just starting in the business world and it will determine the road for it in the future. One more thing you have to worry about is the fact that since this is a contract it is governed by state-specific law and its interpretation and application will vary from state to state.
