Ok – so I may have accepted and proposed at least 1000 NDA’s so far.
Each time an NDA is exchanged:
- Finance/Legal teams get involved for tweaks
- Folks from each party go thru the NDA’s carefully (hmm…do they?)
- Signatures are scrawled and then documents scanned and e-mailed
I keep wondering – what the hell?!
Do we even know where are NDA’s are stored? For deals that have gone nowhere, who has checked if the items disclosed were kept undisclosed by the other folks?
Did we inadvertently mention stuff that we shouldn’t have despite having signed NDA’s?
Do NDA’s matter or are they just a COLOSSAL waste of Money???
I think NDA’s are Toilet Paper – Today, who cares about ideas and concepts – its all about the execution…
What is an NDA worth?
And here I mean even revolutionary designs and ideas…even if Steve Jobs would have forgotten the entire Blue Prints of the iPod in Sony’s office or dropped off the iPhone’s designs into Nokia’s HQ – could then have made what’s out there??
Infact, the biggest IP battles fought today (Blackberry Vs. Rest of the world), Oracle Vs. Hp etc are fought post products, services and designs are launched, sold, marketed etc.
Its IMPOSSIBLE to prove what was discussed or shared or revealed in meets and mails that led to actual design and product IP infringement.
World War 2 ended in 1945 and so did the concepts of ‘secrets’. The biggest secret today is EXECUTION – and that is fought in the Open.
Just BURN THE NDA and MOVE….
****
Nalin Moniz
You still need NDAs to show the other party that you mean business and that your serious about protecting your IP.
That being said, its difficult to enforce NDAs in a country like India where we don’t have Chinese walls – only Chinese whispers.
Abey John
World War 2 ended in 1945 and so did the concepts of ‘secrets’ – oh yeah! Wikileaks pour it on! 🙂
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
:-(((( I goofed up there :-(((((
Abey John said:
Abey John
Don’t get it – How did you goof up?
Sanjay Swamy
On the topic of NDA’s one of my recent successes was in coming up with a 1 page mutual NDA – that includes the signatures of both parties. The impact of sending a 1page NDA is simply amazing, even big companies prefer just signing our NDA when they see it.
It was developed by a reputed/professional law firm – but the IP of putting it into the 1 page format was developed by yours truly. There’s apparently a feature called font size that can do wonders for pieces of paper that are rarely read but required.
I’m uploading a generic version – feel free to use it but don’t come back to me later – I ain’t taking any responsibility for this 🙂
Sanjay
Aalok Pandey
Sir , i beg to differ. We have just signed an NDA, to prevent one of the most master executors in the country. This seems to be the only way to create fear in his mind, of not replicating the same. Else, we would love to flush paper, and not water. 🙂
Aalok
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
🙂 its all in your mind… they will still flush u down ur own toilet once they have to/want to 🙁
Aalok Pandey said:
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
i mean didnt u try and tell me that secrets still leak and it went beyond ww2?
Abey John said:
Nayana Somaratna
I agreed about NDAs – it is not the idea itself but the execution which matters, especially if you are running a tech company.
No-one else possesses the same combination of experience, skill and industry insights that you have – and without that ‘secret sauce’, they are unlikely to make the concept succeed.
Aside from that, it is hard enough to make all the sacrifices necessary to start working on YOUR idea – imagine how much harder it will be to convince someone else to work on it !
Abey John
Nope. I was trying to say that since ww2 secrets have increasingly become less secret the latest being wikileaks. 🙂
Alok ‘Rodinhood’ Kejriwal said:
Bharat
Toilet paper is what matters the most, when in shit!! No comments on the NDA part!!
Vipul Rawal
But what’s written on them dont matter 🙂 jk
Bharat said:
Vipul Rawal
If in US, some opportunist may find a business idea out of this!! Active search of NDA breaches and sue them to make money! 🙂 See, NDAs are not all that waste in some places in some cases 🙂
Pankaj Kayathwal
NDAs are for the gutless !!
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Aalok – its just in your mind. Ask any legal decision maker in a large Company and they will laugh at the defensibility of NDA’s…
Aalok Pandey said:
Nayana Somaratna
Alok, quick question: is it true that NDAs do not cross country borders ? A friend of mind told me this once …
Alok ‘Rodinhood’ Kejriwal said:
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
yes. jurisdiction can derail any litigation.
Its all bunk – this thing called NDA.
Its a lovely way to keep people employed in legal depts.
Nayana Somaratna said:
Nayana Somaratna
Amen to that – it is far better to spend that time and money improving your products !
Alok ‘Rodinhood’ Kejriwal said: