Exclusive jurisdiction indicates that the parties do not want any courts other than those mentioned in the NDA, but a non-exclusive jurisdiction provides that the parties may, in the event of a dispute, be brought before a court other than that mentioned in the NDA. This is particularly important when the parties anticipate that they may have to initiate separate proceedings with respect to the relevant conditions of the NDA in different legal systems. However, despite its bad reputation, an NDA is an essential legal document, essential to the protection of a legitimate business or contractor. Negligent implementation of this type of well-written legal agreement can cause considerable harm to your business. 1. Reciprocal (“unilateral”) – should the agreement be reciprocal or unilateral? If only one party shares and discloses confidential information (this part, the unveiling) and the other party receives only confidential information (that part, the recipient), there may be a unilateral NOA. Often people are indifferent, but you still think about it, maybe you want to stay in a clear position, no exposure to information from the other party that could block you in the future. If you accept a common NOA, you should always ask yourself which party in the engagement is probably the most revealing party. A mutual NOA may be designed in favour of the revealer or in favour of the recipient in some of the key points mentioned below, and simply adopting the notion of reciprocal NOA (sometimes startups do so to appease the other party) does not eliminate the need to consider these points in light of the question of who should be most to reveal. However, other details may not be relevant in 18 months, and the agreement should take that into account. However, in a common NOA (where both parties make statements and demand the confidentiality of the other party), it is generally important to know who has the greatest bargaining power. Confidentiality agreements are an essential but often overlooked tool for startups to grow, forge strategic partnerships and explore new business relationships needed to develop or market their product. These agreements are often short (sometimes only one or two pages) and lead many founders to forego legal advice to circumvent this “formality” and cooperate with the other part of the NDA.

Nevertheless, NDAs are important agreements that could have a significant impact on the protection of confidential information and intellectual property of a company, and the mismanagement of NDAs can be followed by a start-up years later.