Confidentiality Agreements and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) exist to ensure information belonging to a business is not forwarded onto unauthorised parties who could benefit from disclosing confidential work, knowledge, or talent. It is a legally binding contract between oneself and another party, whereby it is agreed to not disclose information you have shared for a specific purpose.
NDAs are used for multiple reasons and BCP is often asked to sign them when working with a client on a new project. The signing of an NDA allows intellectual property and commercial or trading information, such as technical drawings, designs and much more to be shared. The agreements of an NDA can be tailored to your requirements. There are several types of Non-Disclosure Agreements to choose from, but most commonly used are one-way and two-way NDAs.
A one-way, or unilateral, NDA is effective when only one business is sharing information, with the other agreeing to keep it confidential. You can use a two-way, or bilateral, NDA (also called a mutual NDA) when both businesses are sharing confidential information with each other and want to be sure that neither will disclose their trade secrets. This allows for information to be shared from both parties, with no risk of it being forwarded.
Our customers are experts in their fields and their design work, but with a two way NDA in place, BCP can offer in depth composites expertise such as suggest the use of different thicknesses of aluminium skins, or provide a more effective technique for edging panels or incorporating inserts, to help improve a process or reduce manufacturing cost.
At BCP, mutual two-way agreements are most often signed to guarantee confidentiality of ideas, as customers want to share their projects and drawings with us in full confidence that commercially critical details are safe. Since the company’s conception over 30 years ago, experience has taught us that, being industry leaders in engineering aluminium honeycomb composite panels into a plethora of products, means we can add great value to projects, whilst offering a financially viable option for our customers.
Recently, BCP has been involved in work with an automotive racing team, a military/defence supplier, and a drone manufacturer on sensitive projects, all under NDA. This has allowed us to freely share our knowledge and design ideas to ensure the best outcome for the project.
Once the terms of the NDA have been set out, the parties can limit the length of the agreement. Often, a 3-5-year agreement is put in place, but when information is disclosed publicly, the NDA cannot be enforced; however, some information can be kept confidential forever, such as non-patentable know-how, or customer lists for example.
If you are working on a confidential project which requires the use of aluminium honeycomb panels, we would be happy to explore the possibilities under the terms of a mutual NDA. Please contact us for further information.
