After some thought I guess it's all about who has more money. If you're dealing with Intel or MSFT then I'm not sure how effective one of our NDAs would be.
Still some level of protection might be better than 0.
I will not sign your non-compete NDA. They are two separate things. An NDA is required to protect info from disclosure, even if we never use it (i.e. work together). A non-compete means our areas of business are too close and perhaps we should not be exchanging confidential information in the first place. However, an NDA with language that states you will not use confidential info except for the benefit of the person you received it from is perfectly reasonable.
Do established companies ever sign your noncompete NDAs? (One reason we read them carefully is because people occasionally sneak noncompete language into them).
Yes but they are smaller companies, between 5-20 million annual revenue, and none of them made competitive products. We're a software company, they were device manufacturers.
I doubt we'd ever get a fortune 500 company to sign one of our NDAs though.
Companies the size of Intel for example feel they have a right to everything in the tech domain even if they don't have competing product lines and they're the type to sue just to intimidate.
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After some thought I guess it's all about who has more money. If you're dealing with Intel or MSFT then I'm not sure how effective one of our NDAs would be.
Still some level of protection might be better than 0.