At our meetings, members often collectively brainstorm to improve upon a particular inventor’s product or idea. The intent of the club is for an inventor who brings an idea forward to the group to retain the intellectual property rights for their original invention, idea, or concept. Even with the best of intentions, there is always risk with such discussions, so here are a few guidelines for club meetings:
- Because our meetings are open and public, any sharing of ideas, inventions, concepts, and the like, must stop short of any information you consider proprietary, secret, and/or confidential.
- If you want to get assistance on a problem that requires the disclosure of proprietary, secret, and/or confidential information, some members are willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). In this instance, it is best for you to approach a specific member(s), ask for assistance, and request that they execute an NDA.
- If an NDA is desired, you must supply any NDA form that you wish to have a club member(s) execute.