Cooperation agreement and intellectual property
Are you working together with others to develop a new product or innovative technology? Then make clear agreements about, for example, confidentiality and intellectual property rights. It is a good idea to record these in a non-disclosure agreement or a cooperation agreement.
Protect your idea with a non-disclosure agreement
You can often protect your idea with intellectual property rights (IP). For technological inventions you can apply for a patent. You can protect the appearance of your product with design rights. This is only possible if your idea is recordable as a product or process.
Often, a collaboration starts before that. So, have your partners and other parties sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This puts you in a stronger position should they disclose or share information without your permission. If they do, you may be able to go to court.
Record your idea
You can also record your idea in the i-DEPOT of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). Your idea will then receive a date stamp. This is proof that you already had this information on that day. For example, do you want to share your idea with investors or collaboration partners? Then you can link an online NDA directly to your i-DEPOT. This way you have extra proof in case of a possible dispute.
The i-DEPOT only provides a date stamp that can be used as evidence in the event of a conflict. It does not protect your idea.
Why a cooperation agreement?
You want a good relationship with a cooperation partner who sticks to agreements made. And you do not want the other party to use your new product or technology without permission. So, be careful when looking for partners to collaborate with.
But misunderstandings can also happen between trustworthy partners. For instance, about what you share, who owns the intellectual property rights (IP), or how you divide revenues and costs. With a cooperation agreement you can avoid these misunderstandings.
What should be in a cooperation agreement?
What exactly should be in a cooperation agreement is different for every situation. There is no standard example of a cooperation agreement.
Important topics to include in the agreement are:
- What is the goal of the collaboration?
- Who contributes what knowledge and what knowledge do you develop together?
- Who pays what costs?
- How will you share any profits?
- How do you deal with confidential information?
- How long will the cooperation last and how you can end it earlier.
Read more about collaborating with a partner.
Also check the general rules for contracts and agreements.
Moving forward together as a company
If you are going to work together for a long time, you can decide to set up a company together. You need to choose a legal structure that suits the collaboration. The most common legal structures for collaboration are:
See the overview of all legal structures.