In business, you may share confidential information with another party. To ensure that the information remains secret, you may need a non-disclosure agreement or an NDA.
According to Forbes, an NDA is a way to protect confidential information. To avoid a dispute, there are certain components you do not want to forget.
What parties are involved?
The NDA needs to name the parties to the agreement. Normally, an agreement covers two parties. This is the disclosing party and the recipient. In some cases, affiliated companies, partners and agents may be a part of the agreement.
What is confidential information?
In a non-disclosure agreement, it is better to be as clear as possible about the information that you want to stay confidential. Otherwise, the recipient of the information may be unsure of what information he or she needs to keep secret. While you can include oral information in an NDA, you do want to confirm the information in writing.
Are there exclusions from confidentiality?
There are always exclusions in an NDA. There will always be situations where it may be unfair for a person to keep the information confidential. You cannot expect confidentiality if the person that he or she has a conversation with already knows the information. Likewise, if the information becomes public, then he or she does not have to adhere to the agreement.
What are your agreement terms?
Every agreement should have an end. You may be able to argue that the NDA should last forever, but you do not want to have to police the confidentiality agreement forever. Most information becomes irrelevant after several years. A lot of NDAs have a term of two to five years.
