The problems faced by inventors are two-fold – they not only have concerns about "being ripped-off", but face jeopardising future patent applications if their invention becomes known.
For an invention to be patentable it must be novel: not known in the public domain prior to the filing date of the patent application. This means that if the inventor has disclosed how the invention works to anyone else then his patent application could fail. Only those disclosures of the invention that are confidential are deemed to not be 'public', and therefore not a challenge to the validity of a future patent application.
The solution, according to the Patent Office, is the Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA).
CDAs, or Non-Disclosure Agreements, are used when confidential information is likely to be exchanged between two parties, and one or both of them wish to record the terms under which that information is to be given.
But some CDAs can be complex and costly to prepare, while others may be inappropriate for particular circumstances.
The Patent Office has therefore issued guidance to help inventors.
"We are committed to helping British inventors bring their new ideas to market," said Andy Bartlett, Innovation Champion at the Patent Office. "In the early stages of developing a new product or process, inventors can be torn between the need to guard their secrets whilst also seeking financial support or technical advice. Disclosing the invention to some people is inevitable for many inventors, so we wanted to take the worry out of drafting a CDA."
