NDA's

[Werner Koch]

On Thu, 30 Aug 2001 22:28:41 +0100, Ruben Leote Mendes said:

>> This is just an hypothetical scenario but I think it illustrates them problem.
>> NDA's are never good. I won't sign one myself and I don't think any free

Frankly I thing that there are times where an NDA can be appropriate.
For example, if you are preparing a bid for a a FS project together
with a group of other companies, a NDA might be a good idea.  Consider
the case that one of the partners starts to play unfair and tells
another group the details of the project and eventually this other
group obtains the contract - oops.  The other group might even be one
of these semi-FS players.  Having signed an NDA the partners are a
little bit more intersted in playing fair.

So it really depends on the scope of the NDA and it should definitely
expire at an appropriate time.  I have never seen an EU NDA, although
I did apply as expert last year and was accepted (actually without
any project to evaluate - what a luck).

In general an NDA really hinders you to develop software.

Ciao,

   Werner

-- 
Werner Koch                  Omnis enim res, quae dando non deficit,   
FSF Europe                   dum habetur et non datur, nondum habetur,
Vice-Chancellor Germany      quomodo habenda est.        -- Augustinus