A patent (or invention) non-disclosure agreement is a contract used for protecting information relating to an invention, breakthrough product, process, idea, or similar secrets from being utilized or shared by outside parties. The NDA comes in handy in the “patent pending” period, which can take anywhere from one (1) to three (3) years. During this time, the owner of the information may want to share the idea with outside investors, licensees, manufacturers, contractors, new employees, and more. To avoid the chance of any of these entities stealing the information shared with them, requiring them to sign an NDA makes them legally required to keep the learned information to themselves.
Step 1 – Save the NDA
Download the patent NDA to your computer in PDF, Word, or RTF. The PDF file is recommended if the parties will not be making edits to the form.
Step 2 – Read the contract
Both parties should take the time to ensure the form substantially covers the information they intend to protect. Because it is a template, making edits to the form is highly recommended. This allows the disclosing party to customize the conditions to their specific patent.
Step 3 – The parties
With the exception of the recipient’s signature, the disclosing party (known as the “OWNER” in the form) will fill-in the agreement. At the top of the contract, the OWNER will need to enter their entity name (can be a personal name or company name), the full name of the RECIPIENT (name or company), and the RECIPIENT’s full address. The OWNER does not need to write their address on the form.
Step 4 – Secret information
In section “b” of the “PARTIES” section, the OWNER should write a brief description of what the secret information is, it’s product name, or any other name/information that identifies what the trade secret(s) relate to.
Step 5 – Choice of law
In section 10 of the contract, the name of the in which the laws in which the NDA falls under should be written twice in the two (2) fields provided.
Step 6 – Signatures
To finalize the NDA, both the OWNER and the RECIPIENT will need to write their: