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A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties. It is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose information covered by the agreement. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets. As such, an NDA protects nonpublic business information.

NDAs are commonly signed when two companies, individuals, or other entities (such as partnerships, societies, etc.) are considering doing business and need to understand the processes used in each other's business for the purpose of evaluating the potential business relationship. NDAs can be "mutual", meaning both parties are restricted in their use of the materials provided, or they can restrict the use of material by a single party.

It is also possible for an employee to sign an NDA or NDA-like agreement with an employer. In fact, some employment agreements will include a clause restricting employees' use and dissemination of company-owned confidential information.

Contents [hide]

1 Types

1.1 Unilateral NDA

1.2 Bilateral NDA

2 Content

2.1 California

3 See also

4 References

5 External links

Types[edit]

A non-disclosure agreement may be unilateral or bilateral, that is, it may bind only one party or multiple parties (typically two):

Unilateral NDA[edit]

A unilateral, or a one-way, agreement is where one party wants to disclose certain information to another party but needs the information to remain secret for some reason, perhaps due to secrecy requirements required to satisfy patent laws[1] or to make sure that the other party does not take and use the disclosed information without compensating the discloser.

Bilateral NDA[edit]

A bilateral, or mutual, agreement is where both parties will be supplying information that is intended to remain secret. This type of agreement is common when businesses are considering some kind of joint venture or merger.

Some practitioners insist on a mutual NDA in all cases, to encourage the drafter to make the provisions "fair and balanced" in case the drafter's receiving-party client later ends up as a disclosing party, or vice versa (not an uncommon occurrence)[citation needed].

Content[edit]

A nondisclosure agreement can protect any type of information that is not generally known. However, nondisclosure agreements may also contain clauses that will protect the person receiving the information so that if they lawfully obtained the information through other sources they would not be obligated to keep the information secret.[2][dead link] In other words, the nondisclosure agreement typically only requires the receiving party to maintain information in confidence when that information has been directly supplied by the disclosing party. Ironically, however, it is sometimes easier to get a receiving party to sign a simple agreement that is shorter, less complex and does not contain safety provisions protecting the receiver.[citation needed]

Some common issues

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