Beware of NDAs
In a day and age when most technology providers - small and large - offer 30-day free trials of their software, it seems incredibly odd for a membership management provider, Association Anywhere, which recently asked a nonprofit to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Stating that the company did "business in a very defined and focused space," the vendor actually turned the business away when we refused to sign the agreement.
I can appreciate a vendor wanting to keep its intellectual property safe and ensuring that there is a legitimate client looking at it's software, but this kind of legal clamping down on openness struck me as an affront to the nonprofit sector. Given the tight budgets in the nonprofit sector, I expect vendors (especially those which are strong) to encourage discussion about their products amongst peers. Is Association Anywhere really going to sue a nonprofit for sharing its experience with the software with colleagues or the community?
I can appreciate a vendor wanting to keep its intellectual property safe and ensuring that there is a legitimate client looking at it's software, but this kind of legal clamping down on openness struck me as an affront to the nonprofit sector. Given the tight budgets in the nonprofit sector, I expect vendors (especially those which are strong) to encourage discussion about their products amongst peers. Is Association Anywhere really going to sue a nonprofit for sharing its experience with the software with colleagues or the community?
Labels: membership management
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1 Comments:
I think you may have confused an NDA that prohibits disclosure of sensitive information or intellectual property with an NDA that prohibits discussing any aspect of something. TiVo makes its beta testers sign NDA agreements, but surely AA was not prohibiting you from "sharing [your] experience with the software with colleagues or the community." That's just too difficult to believe.
Of course, if I'm wrong and AA did, in fact, try to tell you not to disclose any evaluation of their product with anyone else, then that's just stupid. However, you may have been a bit off by linking that with a nonprofit's limited financial resources. What would one have to do with the other?
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