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How do you protect ideas in development?

by Robert M Gouge
3 replies
Assuming you're trying to be innovative and need to outsource to see your vision become reality, how do you protect what you are trying to accomplish without having it stolen by some ambitious programmer (facebook comes to mind) ?
#development #ideas #protect
  • Profile picture of the author JOSourcing
    Banned
    Several preventative measures come to mind, as it's nearly impossible to protect a concept from theft short of eliminating the option of outsourcing altogether.
    • Include an NDA with your contract and hire a service provider that lives/works in the area where that contract can be enforced by law.
    • If outsourcing through an online service, make sure that service's user agreement complements your contract terms with country-specific provisions.
    • Require the provider to use a desktop screen-capturing program while working on your project. (This will help catch instances of theft in case you need to justify terminating a contract.)
    • Multisource: Piecemeal a project in to several parts and have several providers work on each part without knowing about it.
    • Keep critical processes in-house.
    • Take a look at how Chaperon Secure can help. That's a 3rd party resource that specializes in protecting intellectual property.

    I'm sure there are probably more ways to address your concern, but that's what I suggest off-hand.
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    • Profile picture of the author Studio13
      Originally Posted by JOSourcing View Post

      Several preventative measures come to mind, as it's nearly impossible to protect a concept from theft short of eliminating the option of outsourcing altogether.
      • Include an NDA with your contract and hire a service provider that lives/works in the area where that contract can be enforced by law.
      • If outsourcing through an online service, make sure that service's user agreement complements your contract terms with country-specific provisions.
      • Require the provider to use a desktop screen-capturing program while working on your project. (This will help catch instances of theft in case you need to justify terminating a contract.)
      • Multisource: Piecemeal a project in to several parts and have several providers work on each part without knowing about it.
      • Keep critical processes in-house.
      • Take a look at how Chaperon Secure can help. That's a 3rd party resource that specializes in protecting intellectual property.

      I'm sure there are probably more ways to address your concern, but that's what I suggest off-hand.
      Great tips.

      Let me also add, compartmentalization. Break up your project into separate pieces like a puzzle. Train and employ people only to do one aspect of the overall vision, never giving any one person the entire picture.

      This is sort of a psy-op approach as opposed to legal, however is just as of effective if you are inclined to this line of thinking.
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      • Profile picture of the author Global Warrior
        Have the NDA tracked:

        That is, if the developer needs to bring in another specialist to complete part of the project, have the developer get the specialist to also sign the NDA and have it as an appendix in the contract between the developer and specialist and make the developer keep track of just how many specialists he has used and keep a copy of all the NDA's and the communications between them.

        Have that file sent to you every week. By doing so, and assuming you have the buck$ and the will power to do it, you should find the source of any leaks, if there are any. Then you drop all the legal $**t you can on the developer, who you had the contract with in the first place...... and he wont sleep for a while.

        Also make sure that all the software they develop for you is yours, at least as much as you have paid for. Get it in the contract. If you find that you don't like the developer, at least you still have the software he's developed so far and you can go to another developer and not have to pay again.

        Theres sooooo much more to it so if you have a serious project, get lawyered up early :-)

        Peace

        GW
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