Your best work stays under your control
Start from your website, demos, marketing materials and manuals. Code access can deepen the review, but is not required.
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. Our process can evaluate your existing technology and develop new invention candidates from public-facing materials and your business goals, without behind-the-scenes access. If you choose to add code access, we can review it inside systems you control.
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.
Your systems, your access controls
Code access is optional. If you choose a deeper codebase review, we offer read-only review inside your environment, under your access controls and logging. You can revoke access at any time. Source code does not need to be copied to our systems.
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.
Our mutual NDA or yours
We can use our lawyer-drafted mutual nondisclosure agreement or review your company's NDA. Both sides agree on confidentiality terms before sensitive material is shared. Your counsel can review and negotiate those terms.
Written security and retention policies
Our written security and data-retention policies are available for your team's review. We agree on what materials the work requires, how they will be handled, and applicable retention, return and deletion terms before sensitive material is shared.
Ownership set in writing
Our lawyer-reviewed engagement agreement sets ownership of resulting inventions and work product, including any required assignments. Your counsel reviews those terms before work begins. Inventorship is a separate question for independent patent counsel.
Professional liability coverage
We carry professional liability insurance. Coverage documentation can be reviewed during vendor diligence, subject to the policy's terms, limits and exclusions. Insurance does not eliminate disclosure risk or replace confidentiality and access controls.
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
Can we use our own NDA?
Yes. We can review your company's NDA or use our lawyer-drafted mutual NDA. The terms must be agreed by both sides before sensitive information is shared. Your legal team can review and negotiate the agreement.
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?
Our lawyer-reviewed engagement agreement sets ownership of resulting inventions and work product and any required assignments. Your counsel should review those provisions before work begins rather than assume every right transfers automatically. Inventorship is a separate legal question that patent counsel decides from who actually contributed to conceiving each invention.
What happens to our materials when the engagement ends?
Our written data-retention policy is available for review. Applicable retention, return and deletion terms are agreed in writing, including any legal recordkeeping requirements. Independent patent counsel may have separate obligations to retain filing records.
What insurance do you carry?
We carry professional liability insurance. Policy documentation can be reviewed during vendor diligence; coverage depends on the policy's terms, limits and exclusions. This is not a representation that we carry cyber insurance or that a particular loss would be covered.
Can you work under our own security requirements?
Send your vendor security requirements or questionnaires early. Our written security and data-retention policies are available for review, and we will work through your requirements together before sensitive material is shared. Any additional requirements need to be agreed in writing; we do not assume we meet every company's standards.
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.