Potential U.S. Federal Government Shutdown: Research Continuity Guidance

Exchange Confidential Information

with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

An NDA is used to demonstrate an agreement to restrict disclosure of specific information exchanged confidentially for research purposes.

The NDA is commonly used when the parties are considering collaborating and need to exchange confidential information for the purpose of evaluating a potential business/research relationship. NDAs are also known as confidentiality agreements (CA), confidential disclosure agreements (CDA), proprietary information agreements (PIA), or secrecy agreements (SA). Examples of information covered by an NDA include confidential material, proprietary information, and patentable ideas* among others.

*Cornell Patentable ideas and technology may be shared only through Cornell’s Center for Technology Licensing.
 
If a Cornell employee wishes to receive confidential information and the proposed transaction complies with certain requirements, he or she may use the Individual Standard Non-Disclosure Agreement without going through OSP.

When researchers wish to enter into an NDA and the conditions for use of the Individual Standard NDA are not met, they should contact the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at osp_nda@cornell.edu. OSP is responsible for entering into all other research-related non-disclosure agreements.

A copy of Cornell's Standard Bilateral Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) Form can be found HERE.