Non-Disclosure Agreements For Software/App Development: How important are NDAs? Share: Async Labs Date Published 4 February 2021 Categories Blog Reading Time 3-Minute Read NDA contracts are used to protect intellectual property, such as trade secrets or unpatented ideas. When building trustful business relationships, confidentiality and protection of private data are crucial. You will have to share that confidential information with others to achieve your business goals in some situations. Here comes NDAs — non-disclosure agreements that provide security and protection to confidential information. Signing a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement is just a regular part of doing business. NDA agreements ensure that information or trade secrets remain protected against information leakage. What is the NDA agreement? Non-disclosure agreements are legally enforceable contracts between at least two parties. They prohibit someone from sharing sensitive information deemed confidential, such as material, knowledge, unpatented ideas or trade secrets. When you start a new project or a business, you will probably need to discuss confidential information with a third party — an accountant, a bank, an agency, an investor. How many types of NDA are there? There are two general types of NDAs: bilateral (mutual) and unilateral. A unilateral NDA contract is used when one party provides information and the other only receives it. On the other hand, in bilateral NDA agreements, both parties provide and receive information simultaneously. NDA contracts contain information on the parties to the agreement, the subject of the contract, i.e., a list of all confidential information provided to the other party, the recipient’s obligations and the time the recipient is obliged to keep the confidential information received. Do you need to sign an NDA? There is a possibility that you might be asked to sign an NDA in a wide range of settings. The most common situations that require an NDA are: If you or the second party have concrete confidential information that needs to be protected If you are negotiating the concept, technology or the sale of your product When the projects are based on new technologies and ideas When presenting new plans and ideas to potential investors or agency In case the project has to be hidden from the public eye When service you receive demands to give out sensitive and confidential business information to the company providing that service (for example, digital marketing or accounting) When you hire an employee who will have access to confidential information Pro tip: Never sign an NDA that is not in your favor. If you plan to compile an NDA that needs to be signed by the other party, ensure that it is written by a lawyer and does not last longer than five years. If you plan to work on software/app development, we prepared an NDA template. Click here to download an NDA agreement for free! Hopefully, this will help you compile and successfully fulfill your contract. Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post doesn’t constitute legal advice.