Your best work stays under your control
Share less, share later, and keep your code where it already lives.
The concern is reasonable
Your trade secrets and unfiled inventions may be among the most valuable things your company has. Handing them to any outside firm is a real decision, and a confidentiality agreement alone does not make it safe. Enforcing one can take years and cost far more than the engagement.
So we do not ask you to rely on an agreement alone. We set up each engagement so that less sensitive material is exposed in the first place.
How we structure every engagement
Start with what is already public
Early work can begin from your business goals, your product roadmap at a high level, and public patent and market records. You decide whether and when anything more sensitive is shared, after you have seen how we work.
Review in your environment, not ours
For codebase reviews, we can work inside systems you control, under your access rules and logging, with read-only access you can revoke at any time. Source code does not need to leave your environment.
Only what the work needs
We ask for specific materials tied to a specific step, not open access. If something is not needed to evaluate or document an invention, we do not ask for it.
A small, named team
Your agreement can list the people who will see your materials. Nobody outside that list, and outside your chosen patent counsel, is brought in without your written approval.
Terms your counsel reviews
Confidentiality, ownership of inventions, data handling and return or deletion of materials at the end of the engagement are set out in writing. We expect your legal team to review and negotiate them before work begins.
Phased engagements
Engagements move in stages. You can stop after any stage, and nothing from a later stage is requested until you choose to continue.
Common questions
Why would we share sensitive work with a small firm?
That is a fair concern, and you should not have to take it on trust. We structure engagements so the first stages need little or no sensitive material, codebase work can happen inside your own systems, and every confidentiality and ownership term is written down for your counsel to review. You decide how far to go and when.
Does a confidentiality agreement fully protect us?
No agreement removes all risk, and enforcing one can be slow and costly. That is why we rely on limiting what is shared in the first place: less material, shared later, with fewer people, ideally without it leaving your environment. Talk with your own counsel about what protections are right for you.
Who owns the inventions that come out of an engagement?
Ownership is set out in the engagement agreement, which your counsel reviews. Inventorship is a separate legal question that patent counsel decides from who actually contributed to each invention.
What happens to our materials when the engagement ends?
Return or deletion of materials at the end of the engagement is written into the agreement, along with any records patent counsel needs to keep for a filing.
Can you work under our own security requirements?
Yes. If your company has vendor security requirements or questionnaires, send them early and we will work through them with your team before any sensitive material is shared.
Start with a conversation, not your code
A first call covers your goals and how the work would be set up. No sensitive material is needed.
Learn MoreIdea Partnership is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The practices described here are how we generally structure engagements; the specific terms of any engagement are set out in a written agreement. No arrangement can remove all risk of disclosure. Consult your own counsel.