Q: Is there a type of disclosure document that I can use to protect an IP idea that i am working on, before it's designed?

A: Non Disclosure Agreement

That language should also be included in any contract with people that would do work for you

A: I am not licensed in Illinois so you need to ask a local lawyer. But you should ask to have a Non-Disclosure Agreement that you use when you are vetting vendors and a more detailed agreement that you use when you hire a vendor.

The second agreement needs to include many things. For the point of this discussion, I will highlight two things.

1) The agreement needs to contain an obligation that any Intellectual Property created while working on your project that you are paying for is to be assigned for no additional consideration to your company.

2) Any subcontractors working for the company that you hire (and their subcontractors ad infinitum) will sign a document with a similar duty to assign so that a subcontractor no matter how many levels deep will assign rights up that will eventually be consolidated in your company.

Do not fool around with this and use something that you tweak from something that you find on the internet. Find an attorney that works with young tech companies and build a relationship. This may be a different attorney than the patent attorney that you eventually need.

I hope that this helps.

Kevin E Flynn

A: We call then NDA's. You need a signed non-disclosure agreement before you disclose your intellectual property to any party. Remember that public disclosure of a patent idea before you file the patent can interfere with your claim of property protection.