Posts Tagged: "confidentiality agreement"

Mitigating ‘Justified Paranoia’ via Provisional Patent Applications

As mentioned in Part I of this series, many inventors will seek to obtain some kind of patent protection so they can stake claim to their invention. Filing at least a provisional patent application is a necessary strategy, because when you file a patent application you are articulating your invention and getting on record with a filing date that cannot be taken away from you with respect to whatever is in your patent application. A provisional patent application can be a great first step, particularly if you are going to need some assistance later to develop your invention. It is also a good first step because you do not need a confidentiality agreement when dealing with a patent agent or patent attorney because the law already requires that information learned from clients or even prospective clients must remain confidential. So, even if you just seek the advice of a patent attorney or patent agent and never wind up hiring them, they are legally required to keep what you tell them confidential. This legal requirement is much stronger than any confidentiality agreement you could ever have them sign. This is true because any confidentiality agreement will say that if the information becomes public the signer is no longer obligated to keep the information secret. There is no such “out clause” in the attorney-client privilege. What you tell a patent attorney or patent agent about your invention is confidential and will remain confidential even if no representation relationship ever is undertaken.

Justified Paranoia: Patenting and the Delicate Dance Between Confidentiality and Investment

Most inventors understand that a certain amount of paranoia goes a long way when dealing with an idea or invention. Ideas cannot be patented, but every invention starts with an idea. When you have an idea that has been sufficiently formulated and described in a provisional patent application, you may even be able to license that invention idea without yet having received a patent. This all falls apart if you tell others about your invention or otherwise disclose your invention before a patent application is filed. Worse, if you tell someone your idea without a confidentiality agreement, they are free to use the idea without paying you anything. It can feel like the wild west sometimes for inventors seeking to become entrepreneurs—whether their dreams are to license inventions, to build a company to sell a product, or to offer a service representing the invention. Once your idea crosses the idea-invention boundary (discussed here), you can receive a patent, provided of course that it is new and nonobvious. But if you start telling others about your invention, they could make and use your invention without paying you—which is bad enough, but the mere act of someone else moving forward with your idea could forever prevent you from obtaining a patent.

What is a Confidentiality Agreement and Why are they So Important?

A Confidentiality Agreement, which is also known as non-disclosure agreement or simply as an NDA, is simply a contract between two or more parties where the subject of the agreement is a promise that information conveyed will be maintained in secrecy… These types of agreements are particularly useful when one is disclosing information that is valuable so long as secrecy is maintained (i.e., a trade secret), which can include both invention related information and business related information.

Developing a Plan for Employee Departures in California

As discussed elsewhere in this Take 5, although California employers generally cannot restrict an employee’s ability to work elsewhere, California employers can protect their trade secrets and confidential information. One pillar of a successful plan to do so is having an employee departure protocol.

Invention to Patent 101 – Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

This page and website contain contain detailed information to help inventors on the road from invention to patent… Below are a sampling of inventor help links to specific patent and invention related information throughout our website. As you read these articles you will invariably come across links to other articles of interest, which you can and really should read. While I believe inventors should take the time to read all of the pages throughout IPWatchdog.com, I have gone through the IPWatchdog.com archives and created several “reading assignments,” which will hopefully make the task of figuring out where to start more manageable, and which will help get you started. I recommend you do them in this order (i.e., starting with Reading Assignment 1), but if you find something that you just need to know then by all means jump ahead. You can also visit our Inventor Education Archive as well.