Confidential Disclosure Agreements

You may be concerned that someone will steal your idea before you apply for your patent. If you need to tell anyone about your ideas, for example a potential manufacturer, financial backer or other partner, you should consider using a confidential disclosure agreement (CDA).

Know-how (trade secrets) is often a valuable form of intellectual property. Confidentiality disclosure agreements (CDA) can be used to identify and protect know-how. CDAs can help when licensing (2.43Mb) know-how between different parties.

Our booklet (84Kb) provides some information and advice on the subject.

A CDA is a legal document to record the terms under which you exchange your confidential information.

There is no set formula for a CDA and we recommend that you consult a legal representative about how to protect your ideas and the risks of communicating your ideas to someone else.

CDAs are also known as confidentiality agreements, and non-disclosure agreements (NDA).

Further information is available in the Patents area.