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Make beta testers click to sign a non disclosure agreement?

Legally speaking, if I were to make a non disclosure agreement that had to be clicked on before signing into my mobile app and website, would that hold up in court if the agreement was breached?

Answer 1848

Great question!

Forcing testers to sign an NDA (which is a legally binding contract) could hold up in a court of law but won't win 100% of the time. The contract would need to be detailed enough so there aren't any loopholes or vagueness that could be misunderstood or misinterpreted.

If someone did break the terms and conditions of your NDA you would have to prove that they did and prove that the same information wasn't available elsewhere.

Assuming that your product or intellectual property is valuable enough to enforce this then it might act as a deterrent, otherwise it might be overkill and unnecessary.

Check out this article by Eric Goldman (a Law Professor) for more information.

Answer 1849

I agree with theonlydanever, Great Question.

The only thing I have to add is that testing is a little late in the race to be considering protecting your IP. Testing usually occurs after months of development and within weeks of the general release to the public.

You already have the lead on any potential competition simply because your software is code-complete. You might need to polish its UX for a little, but your competitors haven’t even started coding yet.

It’s sort of like turning around when the finish line is in sight, just to check that nobody jumped the starting gun. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Schedule of things to do…

Monday : Get Testers To “Sign” An NDA, swearing that they won’t talk about the product.

Friday : Beg Bloggers and Early Adopters to talk about the product.

???


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