Non-Disclosure Agreements For Doctors
Non-disclosure agreements are common in medicine. The following is what you should consider.
When I was asked to sign my first NDA (or CDA, confidential disclosure agreement), I freaked and had a suitable attorney take a look. He added or subtracted several things around the edges, adding nothing very substantive, but I felt better. Since, then I’ve become experienced with the language and commonly don’t consult a lawyer unless I view a glaring red flag. I compare it to surgery…see one, do one, teach one.
On condition that we’re speaking about not showing yours unless you show mine, listed below are a few other tips:
1. NDA’s can be unilateral or bilateral. Take for example executing an NDA between myself, an inventor who wishes to use a good medical device company to further develop my product and also the company, that wants to disuss my product. In that case, we signed a suitable biliateral NDA.
2. I’ve been offered NDA’s that vary in length from a suitable single page to 17 pages. The essential disussion points have to do with the meaning of “confidential information”, required research and retained rights, term and termination (when and just how the agreement ends), and also other CYA legalese topics like severance and assignability.
3. All contracts are negotiable. You could possibly feel powerless or insecure about negotiating terms because of your inexperience, but make sure you make your concerns known. For instance, being asked to prevent something secret for several years is unreasonable. Most of the time, contracts stipulate 3-4 years as being the time frame.
4. If you have a good breach of contract, your medical doctor liability insurance in unlikely to pay for the expenses of any court proceedings. Receive an umbrella liability policy that could cover you.
5. When you have ideas or intellectual property you ought to protect , and you intend to share your idea with other people,I’d have a good lawyer draft the agreement and also have clients sign it before you decide to give away the recipe for the secret sauce.
6. In general, with no NDA in force, discuss the “what” not the “how”
7. Make sure to possess the authority to sign an NDA. For instance, if you’re a suitable faculty member at a major research university, you typically don’t have the authority to represent the university in relation to agreements concerning intellectual property that the university might own or potentially own. I have the signature from the Associate VP for Technology Transfer to sign it. The Supreme Court has lately decided to hear a good case concerning a faculty assignment of IP to Stanford, so keep tuned in.
8. If you are uncertain, spend a few bucks to have anyone to hold your hands.
I’d be interested in listening to the experience of others.
Post courtesy of Freelance MD, a nonclinical physician careers community offering physician resources like nonclinical jobs and offering information that allows physicians more control of their career, income and lifestyle, from medical spas to real estate investing.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 30th, 2011 at 5:02 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.