A little less talk

A revolutionary new product is coming out.  You just landed the commercial work for them.  Who do you tell first?  NO ONE. Why?  YOU CAN'T.

Quarter Orange has come across a similar scenario.  It is not an uncommon situation for a client to ask you to sign a NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT.  Basically stating you will not talk about the product or disclose any information to anyone outside of the agreement.  These agreements can last for any length of time and every agreement will vary depending on the company and the project.  What happens if you break the agreement?  That will usually be covered in the agreement and if it is not, just know that it is a legal binding document and you could end up with a full legal assault.  EEEK!

WHY?  Why go through the hassle?  Why WOULDN'T you want more people to hear about the product? There could be any number of reasons for a non-disclosure agreement.  Companies spend a lot of time figuring out exactly how they want a product released and have some random person in the chain speaking too soon tear apart a marketing plan.  If a company is coming out with a truly revolutionary product then they want to keep their advantage for as long as possible.  That way they can get maximum initial interest and keep other companies from trying to copy them.  Maybe your client doesn't have the patent for their product yet and you decided to blog about the product.  Anyone could come across the information and take it for themselves.

Non-disclosures help protect intellectual property, but allow others to become part of it, so don't be upset when you are handed a copy to sign, it is usually nothing personal...