question about NDA

[GameDevCn]

From legal viewpoint, is NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) between a company and an individual/studio (without company entity) viable?

Thank you in advance.

EDIT: modify the title to clarify.

[GBGames]

Yes. And I say this because I know that NDA's have been used between individuals and other companies, so they must be viable.

[GameDevCn]

Thank you very much for your quick answer.

[Nutter2000]

Definately, I think every job interview I've every been to has made me sign an NDA

An NDA is a legally binding document and is generally directed to the individual not a corporate entity. For example, it is possible, and often occours, that in a big corporation, eg Microsoft, for employees inside that company to be not allowed to talk about an external game to others inside the same company because they've been NDA'd

[serg3d]

I've signed NDA fof my current contract job. I think most of contract job require NDA.

[GameDevCn]

Sorry, I didn't state my question clearly...

(Thank you anyway.)

I was contacting a publisher. They asked me to submit my game to see if it meets their requirements. I started my first indie game not long before. It was playable but still a way to finish. I'd like to know if the publisher can sign NDA with me (no company entity) so that I could protect my idea.

Have you had same problem? How did you protect your idea when submitting if your game was not finished?

[GameDevCn]

BTW, it was Codemasters, located in UK.

Has anybody dealt with them before? How are they?

[Nutter2000]

I haven't dealt with them personally but I've heard they're ok.
On the other hand, as in any business deal, the trick is to make sure you get what you want without giving too much away to them

I've generally found in the past that publishers don't often sign your NDAs and expect you to sign theirs, it's often all down to the person you're dealing with to be honest.
Your best bet is to ask them before you do your pitch, plus look at any NDA they sign and see if it covers you as well, that can sometimes happen.

The one who would know best would be Obscure, aka Dan Marchant. I haven't seen him around here for a while but you might want to post the question on the IGDA boards
This forum in particular:
http://www.igda.org/Forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=64


Good luck!