Confidential Information is information which is valuable due to it not being in the public domain. Inventions are one example of Confidential Information valuable due to not being in the public domain, hence novelty is a requirement for protection of an invention via a patent. It is therefore very important not to disclose information relating to any potential invention as this may invalidate a subsequent patent application by removing the novelty requirement.
The public domain includes any medium that can be read or viewed by the general public including web, posters, abstracts, conference presentations and publications.
If you have to disclose Confidential Information or are receiving Confidential Information from an external party, a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) should be put in place as this is the mechanism for protecting Confidential Information. The ORI are happy to facilitate this
All NDAs should be in the name of the RCSI, and not an individual Department, School or Lab within the College and must be signed by an authorised signatory of the College. The ORI procedures for NDAs are set out below. You will also find below a web links to a presentation on NDAs and to the Knowledge Transfer Ireland Practical Guide to Confidentiality Agreements. There is also a link to a short video on how to manage confidential information.
Contact: Sarah Pryor, Research Contracts Officer, Office of Research and Innovation
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr03825.html
1.ORI Procedure for NDAs
2. RCSI Presentation on Confidential Information and NDAs
3. Knowledge Transfer Ireland Practical Guide to Confidentiality Agreements
4. How to manage confidential information (Canadian Intellectual Property Office)