A partner of mine and I have developed a piece of software we want to shop to a couple publishers. It is a variant of Video Poker, so we will be taking it to some of the VP manufacturers (IGT among others). It is a new game and neither of us have done anything like this before so I'm not sure what we should do. We're obviously going to be talking to a lawyer about this, but I'm hoping some people on the board might have some experiences they can share with me. Originally when it was shopped to IGT they wanted us to sign something saying we wouldn't take it anywhere else. That wasn't going to fly. They then came back and wanted us to sign a Mutual NDA, although my partner is the one that saw it so I'm not sure of the specifics of it. Anyway, the point is we have a new VP game and don't want to be screwed over by the company when we demo it to them. What steps do we need to take to cover ourselves? Thanks, ~WarDekar

You should get them to sign an NDA - the mutual one will probably be fine, but make sure that all it does is stop the parties discussing the project/deal. Don't sign if it grants any other rights (such as the one you mentioned of not allow you to show it to others).

The mutual NDA should be fine. But most companies actually want you to sign their Submission Agreement as well. See FAQs 21 and 35 on my site (sloperama.com/advice.html). Good luck - Tom

And if you haven't already...

Talk to a lawyer

Contracts, NDAs, and all those other pesky little things they want you to sign are legally binding agreements. You don't want to lose your product, or the ability to use your product, or the ability to shop around, or accidently agree to something you can't deliver, just because you didn't read the contract.

If your idea is that valuable, you should have YOUR lawyer prepare something for THEM to sign, not the other way around. The idea is for you to protect your assets. They will want you to sign something to protect their assets. Your own lawyer is the only way to see that you are protected.

Lawyer time is very cheap compared to the cost of losing your product, or even worse, being sued for breaking your contract.