Non-disclosure Agreements and Mobile Apps: Are NDAs necessary?
The fundamental issue with NDAs is that people do not know what they really are or what they are supposed to do but just heard somewhere, “You need an NDA”. So what is NDA really?
NDA stands for non-disclosure agreement. It is essentially an agreement by two parties to ensure that confidential information is potential, that is, not disclosed to parties not named in the agreement. Many but not all-with app ideas have their idea solely in their head and do not have a business plan, investor deck, wireframes, designs, or anthing more than 2-3 sentences about their idea. An NDA does not prevent the idea from being stolen. Instead, it provides protection against the named party for using or disclosing their confidential information. However, this named party is absolutely free to build an app of the same idea if it is requested by another person or company to do so.
A mutual NDA is one where both parties are protected as recipients and disclosers of confidential information. If you do not provide your own NDA, you should not sign an NDA that is one-sided. You should sign an NDA if you want to be protected if you share information about your process. However, you should not sign NDA without a term limit.
Mobile-focused startup does not probably need an NDA if it is just based on an idea because another app developer or an agency may work on a similar product.
You should sign an NDA if you are dealing with a well known brands or a startup or an organization that has raised funding where they have more to protect versus those with “ideas” and their NDAs are mutual, has a reasonable term and does not include any unfair provisions. Anyway, you should not sign NDA with someone who is extremely pushing about the NDA. You should be careful about not overexposing your liability risks by providing an NDA to everyone who asks for one. Mobile-focused startup does not probably need an NDA if it is just based on an idea because another app developer or an agency may work on a similar product. In fact, it is preferred that app developer or company to have an experience with a similar product.
Instead of NDA, the signed agreements should provide protection for confidential information and intellectual property. You should not insist on an NDA if you are serious about working with a certain person or a firm. Those who insist to sign NDA have something more important to protect: reputation.