What happens if you violate an NDA?

[TrooperEbonblade]

Even in the anonymous world of the internet, people are really tight lipped about betas etc.

Why? What's to stop someone from making an anonymous name, posting from work or something and spilling all the leet beta infoz about GoD?

Are people that afraid of violating the NDA?

What can happen if you do? Get sued?

[Thug]

Quite possibly yes.

NDA's arent in the same class as say an EULA. NDA's are legally binding and violating an NDA could end you up in court if the company wishes to sue.


-=[ Thug ]=-

[Glaive]

True, you can get an "anonymous" name, but your "l33t beta infoz" will most likely contain data that could give them an idea about which tester you are. They could also talk to the administrator of the board you posted these "infoz" on, and get your IP, which would then allow them to find out which tester you are, and then sue your ass.

If the internet was so anonymous, then the RIAA wouldn't be able to sue people as readily as it does. It's easy to find out who people are on the internet.

[Samus Aran]

I don't understand why people can't just abide by the NDA. Will it be strictly enforced? Probably not. But that doesn't change the fact of the matter, which is that you gave your word to not tell anyone. While a lot of people are comfortable with making promises here and there and breaking them, there are a few of us who still believe in the concept of honour.

Most likely they'd just find out who you were and remove you from the beta, if it were really blatant. Only thing you'd get sued over would be actual "l33t beta infoz", a la WoW Alpha and such

[Millie]

Violating an NDA is about the stupidest thing you can do. If, for whatever reason, the company finds out and decides to sue you, you're screwed. You'll lose money on the settlement, you'll lose any connections you ever had with that company, and you'll be practically unhirable for any future betas you may want to pursue. If the NDA suit is particularly nasty, it could follow you into the real world as well -- preventing you from landing jobs, etc. (Nobody wants to hire someone whom they can't trust, and they certainly can't trust someone who was sued for violating a legally binding nondisclosure agreement).

All that risk, and what is the real benefit? Maybe you look cool for all of 5 minutes, relatively speaking. You'll have your "l33t beta infoz," and then the game will be released, and your infoz won't be so l33t anymore. Not worth it.

[Ham n Cheese]

OH SNAP! Glaive is from Texas

[frott]

Originally posted by JerleMinara
honour.

Does it make me less honorable to make fun of someone who spells it "honour"?

Colour me guilty.

Anyway, everyone knows that the real fun lies in spreading disinfo when you're not even in teh J3 (e ;t a)

[Liz]

The intent of most NDA's is to protect intellectual property and the entity from financial losses or to protect against another entity using their intellectual property for gain.

Cause a company a tangible financial loss that they can back up with numbers = worse case you get sued and lose.

Leak a tiny thing like endur amounts on items compared to mana or maybe some info about certain encounters = worse case they kick you out of beta

[Aethn Anvel]

One more thing to look at. You may think, big deal, I broke a video game NDA.

If you get sued, it goes on your credit. Now lets say you apply for a job, a real job, not 7-11. When I took my first job in the mining industry, I had to sign 4 NDA's, ranging from engineering we used to extraction methods implemented for recovering gold/silver/byproducts. The smallest one was about 100 pages long. They did a extensive back ground check on me. They even knew all my traffic tickets from 22 years ago when I was a kid. If I had been sued or even charged with NDA violation, I would have been black balled from the mining industry forever for NDA violation. And yes, most companies that are in a buisness that requires an extensive NDA will investigate you as a new employee down to your first girlfriend and what your first pet was.

And that private work, imagne if I had taken a government job.

[Grez]

Only a fucking retard would get caught violating an NDA for a computer game - geez, just use a public computer that doesn't require you to log on and make sure you post under a completely different alias.

As for RL NDAs: never break them unless you are in another country without an extridition treaty and dont plan to return. Breaking NDAs in RL - especially military ones - will land your ass in serious shit - possibly even make you disappear.

[Tuco]

You could go to a library or something(the worst place you could do it at is your work, as they WILL give out who you are based on your IP, where as your ISP at home might fight them)

But really, NDAs were made to have the beta testers feel better than everyone else ;D

Seriously, don't break the NDA.

[rukidding]

Everquest is also a competition on most servers. Having access to beta info is an advantage, so there is nothing to gain from giving the info to everyone and their brother.

[Jait]

Before you kiddies get carried away let me just give you some cold hard numbers:

Number of people sued for breaking "video game" software NDAs: 0

The only way you'll be sued is for spying, if I could spell or wasn't too lazy to look up espinogue I would.

The NDA is there to prevent you from making or helping someone make a game based off the code. Happens all the time in the software world, just not in "games"


Other than that it's just there to protect their ass. EULAs are something totally different and aren't compatible here.

[valarin]

if you get sued it goes on your credit?
wtf are you talking about......

If you break the NDA you can be sued although it is unlikely. If you are sued you WILL loose money becuase at the very least you will hire a lawyer spend time in court etc. Even if you win in court you will be out cash and time. Honestly, truely violating an NDA is just stupid since all it can do is cost you money and cause an annoyance. The biggest threat from NDA violation is that OTHER game companies will hear about your NDA disclosure and basically black list you from betas.

But as far as it going on a credit report or some such stuff that is just bullshit. Furthermore, this would be a CIVIL claim so future job applications would probably never hear about it unless you are looking for top secret clearance. ( mmm polygraphs......)

[Edaw]

Any court ordered judgement will end up on your credit report. It also becomes public record same as criminal convictions. Most employers that would have you sign an NDA will most certainly pull your public record and do a credit check.