A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) (also referred to as a confidential disclosure agreement or CDA) is an agreement that is put in place when parties wish to have a discussion involving confidential information.  NDAs are frequently put in place when two parties are considering pursuing a relationship together and need to understand the other's confidential processes, methods, or technology for the purpose of evaluating the potential for a collaboration, licensing, research, sponsorship, or other business relationship.  NDAs are an important tool that can address:

• Publication rights
• Ownership of information
• Intellectual property issues

NDAs are also critical to protect the ability to patent an invention.