In light of a number of recent court decisions in
Australia and the United States, companies with
computer-implemented inventions are looking at a broader range of
options, in addition to the more usual patents and copyright
protections, to maintain an advantage in commercialising their
valuable technology in intensely competitive and rapidly moving
fields. One such option is the rigorous use of non-disclosure
agreements (NDA) or confidentiality agreements with potential
collaborators and partners.
Often clients question the value of having an NDA in place; the
enforceability of such agreements has been met with a certain
degree of scepticism in recent years.
For technology company ZeniMax, an NDA has, however, proven to
be very valuable indeed. On 1 February 2017, a Texas Court found
that Virtual Reality technology leaders Oculus had, by extension
from actions of a company founder, breached an NDA with ZeniMax.
This resulted in an award of half a billion dollars
