Questions, answered plainly

Question 1

What kind of NDA is this?

Accepted Answer

A mutual NDA for business discussions between parties in the United States: both parties may share confidential information, and both protect what they receive.

Its text is a published standard, reproduced without change, with a Cover Page that holds your details and three short additions to it. It is for companies, partnerships and individuals acting in a professional capacity, with one signer for each side. It is not for government bodies, trusts or unincorporated associations.

Question 2

Has a lawyer reviewed it?

Accepted Answer

No. No lawyer has reviewed SignNDA’s agreement, either for SignNDA or for you. Its Standard Terms are a published standard, released under the CC BY 4.0 license, whose publisher says a committee of in-house lawyers, law firm partners and subject-matter experts drafted it; the publisher is named on the agreement’s last page and in SignNDA’s Terms. SignNDA wrote the Cover Page, including the additions listed on it, and neither that publisher nor its committee has reviewed or endorsed SignNDA or those additions.

SignNDA is not a law firm, gives no legal advice, and is not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney. If the agreement matters to your business, or your situation is unusual, have your own lawyer read it before you sign.

Question 3

Will it hold up in my state?

Accepted Answer

SignNDA cannot promise that, and no one honestly can: courts decide under the governing law and the facts. The agreement is the same in every state. It leaves out terms that some states refuse to enforce, such as jury waivers and non-competes, and the governing law you can pick is a state where one of you is based.

Whether it suits your situation is your decision, with your own lawyer if you need one.

Question 4

What can we change?

Accepted Answer

The parties, the purpose of your discussions, how long the agreement lasts, how long information stays confidential after it ends, and the governing law, which is a state where one of you is organized, based or lives. It takes effect when the second of you signs.

The rest of the text is the same for everyone, so both sides know exactly what they are signing.

Question 5

Can anyone in the U.S. use it?

Accepted Answer

Almost. SignNDA can’t start an agreement for a party based in North Carolina, which has its own rules for websites that make legal documents. A party based there can still sign an NDA that another party sends through SignNDA.

Question 6

What if the other side wants something different?

Accepted Answer

They can ask for a change instead of signing. You make a revision, and both of you sign the new text. The earlier revision and its signatures stay in the record; nothing changes under a signature.

Question 7

Is an electronic signature valid?

Accepted Answer

In the U.S., the federal E-SIGN Act and the state laws based on UETA generally give electronic signatures the same effect as handwritten ones for business agreements like this one. What matters is that each person meant to sign, and that the record shows it.

Question 8

How do I sign?

Accepted Answer

Type your name and pick a handwritten style (4 on Free, 12 on Premium), draw it with a finger, stylus or mouse, or upload a picture of your own signature.

However it looks, the signing record also keeps your verified email, your name and title, the time, and the IP address and browser you signed from. Both parties see them on the signing receipt.

Question 9

Does the other party need an account?

Accepted Answer

No sign-up form. The link in our email confirms their address and opens the agreement; they read it and sign, ask for a change, or decline. If they have no account, that link makes them one on Free, so they keep the agreement too.

Question 10

What do we each get at the end?

Accepted Answer

Both parties get the signed PDF and a signing receipt by email, and both keep the agreement in their account. The receipt includes the fingerprint (SHA-256) of the exact text that was signed, so any later change would show.

Question 11

What is free?

Accepted Answer

Creating, signing and keeping mutual NDAs, for both parties. That stays free.

Question 12

What does Premium add?

Accepted Answer

All 12 signature styles, your logo on the agreement and the PDF, your own default terms, reminders sent for you, and every signed agreement in one download.

Question 13

Why is Premium free?

Accepted Answer

SignNDA is in its pilot, and while it is, Premium costs nothing. Premium accounts hear from us before that changes, and nothing is ever charged unless you choose it. Free stays free either way.

Question 14

Can I change my plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes, at any time, on your account page. What you set up on Premium, such as your logo and default terms, is kept if you move to Free and works again when you come back.

Question 15

Who can see an agreement?

Accepted Answer

Its two parties. Nobody else can open it in SignNDA.

Question 16

Can I delete my account?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Until there is a button for it in your account, ask through the contact form and we delete it. The other party keeps their copy of any agreement you signed together: deleting your account does not take back what both of you signed.

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