I’m against the NDA.  This is common sentiment in the technology sector as well.  Before I dive into my issues with the NDA, let’s distinguish between types of NDA.

A Non-Disclosure Agreement is an agreement that requires a receiving party to not disclose or use certain information that the disclosing party wants to provide. Typically they are provided as a start to business negotiations or as part of a broader agreement.

I don’t take issue with NDAs that protect business information, such as financials, business plans or product launch plans or NDAs that are part of a broader agreement.

I do take issue with stand-alone NDAs that serve only to protect the “next great idea”. An idea (excluding patentable ideas) has no value; execution of an idea has value. Indeed, the same idea can be executed multiple ways with only a single approach achieving success.

Signing an NDA protecting an idea has the potential to limit your company’s own product development in the future as you will be restricted from “directly or indirectly” using the idea. Who is to say that you would not have arrived at the idea yourself, which is especially common in industries where most ideas are slight derivatives of what’s already out there, or what “indirect” use of an idea means. Further, imagine the challenge of creating a company-wide “ideas bank” where you place all ideas presented in NDAs and that you can never use.

A smart company will not use an NDA and, instead, will intelligently disclose the bare minimum level of information necessary for discussions to continue. These smart companies recognize that NDAs are hard to enforce as you face the burden of discovering an alleged breach and establishing that the breach actually involves information protected by the NDA. They also realize that NDAs tend to slow business negotiations.

Instead of the NDA, control what you say.  It’s far is far easier than trying to control what other people have already been told.

While many agreements are entered into online, some online companies continue to operate partially offline.  Challenges arise when offline contracts require agreement to an additional online contract, such as a Terms of Service.  This is not to say that offline contracts can’t incorporate online contracts, rather, the online contract must be properly presented to the user signing offline to be enforceable.

When integrating an online contract into the terms of an offline contract, include a clear call-to-action on the part of the signatory.  This is a statement that signing the contract indicates acceptance of the online contract OR to only sign the contract if the signatory agrees to the online contract as well.  Ultimately, you want the signatory to indicate acceptance of the online contract clearly and in an informed fashion.

What calls-to-action don’t work?  A recent U.S. court case considered a link, above the signature line, to the terms and conditions (“Download Terms and Conditions”) and determined that this was insufficient to establish acceptance of the online contract.  As such, the mere existence of a hyperlink, without anything more to draw attention to the link, does not establish acceptance of an online contract.

Admittedly, while this post is more technical than most we put online, our goal is to remind our readers that caution should be exercised when trying to incorporate online contracts into the acceptance of an offline agreement.  While not impossible, contract language is pivotal to ensure enforceability of the online contract.

Online agreements require an electronic form of your signature, whether you click “I agree” or use a digital version of your offline signature.  Electronic signature laws in the U.S. and Canada do not address the correct signature format.  Instead, these laws focus on the correct process for creating an enforceable signature.

Three key considerations guide the electronic signature process:

1.  Identification

How do you identify the signatory?  In the case of a prospective user agreeing to a Terms of Service, identification may come in the form of an email address, first and last name and IP address.  Given the impersonal nature of online agreements, the identification challenge is establishing that signatory is, in fact, the signatory.

2.  Intention

How do you establish intention to sign?  Intention could be established through a digital version of your offline signature applied to a document or a user clicking “I agree.”  Ultimately, the user must understand what they are agreeing to and that they are, in fact, agreeing.  For example, placing the “I agree” button after the agreement provides the user an opportunity to understand the agreement before being asked to agree to it.

3. Integrity

How are electronic signature records retained to ensure originality and ease of production? Integrity may be established through a fixed user acceptance process whereby any user, in order to access a website, was required to accept certain terms.  Alternatively, in the case of a more traditional signed agreement, the agreement copy was retained in a locked file format, with date and time of signature logged.  In both cases, establish an electronic audit trail.

While there is no correct type of online signature, there is a correct process for online signatures that should be considered whenever an online agreement is required.

Whenever a developer discovers a copied version of their app/game, their immediate concern is how to remove it.  This post aims to outline the process for removing content that infringes your copyright from major app/game stores.

All major stores operated by U.S. companies (and often foreign companies) comply with the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”).  Simply summarized, the DMCA provides a notice-and-takedown procedure whereby a notice of copyright infringement sent to a DMCA Agent leads to the take down of infringing content.

STEP 1.  DMCA Notification

The DMCA Agent should be your primary contact as the DMCA specifies a procedure for copyright infringement claims and major stores will follow the procedure.  Here are links to the DMCA Agent for each major store:

Steam:  https://steamcommunity.com/dmca/create/

Apple:  http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/appstorenotices/

Google Android:  https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?product=androidmarket

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/208282075858952

Microsoft:  https://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.aspx 

You must complete and send the notice of copyright infringement contained in these forms to the DMCA Agent in order to initiate the DMCA process.  After you send notice, the DMCA Agent should remove, or disable access to, the allegedly infringing app/game and send notification of such removal to the infringer.

DMCA Agent response time varies.  Indeed, U.S. courts are currently determining what period of time constitutes a reasonable response!

STEP 2.  Utilizing Connections and Social Media

After sending the notification, feel free to contact anyone you know at the app/game store or use Twitter and other social media to push your cause.  Often a campaign will cause a quick response from the DMCA Agent.

STEP 3.  Cease and Desist

Consider sending a cease and desist letter to the infringer as well, requesting that they remove the infringing content from the store (perhaps also request sales proceeds).  Where the store or website does not comply with the DMCA, this may be the first or second step.

STEP 4.  DMCA Counter Notification and Lawsuits

The infringer may respond with a counter notification claiming that the allegedly infringing content was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification.  The DMCA Agent, upon receiving counter notification, will let you know about the counter notification and will put the  content back on the store in 10-14 business days, unless  (before the content returns) you seek a restraining order against the alleged infringer and inform the DMCA Agent of the order.

In reality, the DMCA Agent likely will not receive a counter notification in the case of a blatant ripoff of your app/game.  Nonetheless, it’s important to know the steps that follow DMCA notification.