A contractor I worked with last year just launched a product that uses ideas from our confidential discussions. We had a mutual NDA. Is it worth pursuing legally or am I just throwing money away?
The product isn't identical but there's no way they came up with that approach independently.
hard truth: NDAs are mostly psychological deterrents. actually enforcing one costs $50-100K+ in legal fees and you have to prove damages. unless they copied your literal code or stole actual trade secrets, good luck.
Tim's not wrong about costs but let me add some nuance. Key questions:
1. What exactly did your NDA define as "confidential information"? Broad definitions are harder to enforce.
2. Can you prove they actually used YOUR specific information vs independently developed similar ideas?
3. What are your actual damages? Lost revenue? Lost customers?
I went through this. Spent $15K on a lawyer letter and their lawyer responded with "prove it." My attorney said to actually pursue it would cost $75K minimum with maybe 40% chance of winning. I dropped it.
if their product is actually successful, a strongly worded cease and desist might get them to settle just to avoid the headache. they might pay you to go away even if you'd lose in court
Agree with Joe. A C&D letter costs $1-3K and sometimes creates enough fear to get a settlement conversation started. But don't bluff if you're not prepared to follow through - they may call your bluff.
The more I think about it, the more I realize I can't really prove damages since my product isn't even launched yet. Probably better to just move faster than them.
Best revenge is success. seriously though - ideas are worth almost nothing, execution is everything. if they beat you to market with YOUR idea and execute better, that's actually a sign you need to move faster, not sue
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