Comments on: Why ignorance isn’t bliss when it comes to NDAs

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:54:06 +0000

Good idea… auction houses use meangingful phrases to indicate the state of play in an auction “against the room, on the floor, etc). Why not adopt the phrase “we feel it is long in the tooth” meaning ‘new model due to be announced’ and “feel it is at the end of its shelf life” for ‘new model to launch next week’.

By: Tim_Wn

Tim_Wn — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:52:49 +0000

I think Colin’s idea is pretty sound. Just knowing how long a product has been released isn’t a garruntee to knowing if something is about to supercede it. It would however show which products had only just been released and which were in the zone of being replaced. Of course just because something is going to be replaced doesn’t necessarily mean it will retain A list status.

By: Colin Cartmell-Browne

Colin Cartmell-Browne — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:54:26 +0000

Where the A list is concerned maybe you could put together some kind of ’shelf-life’ rating system which can be used as an indication of whether a product is about the be superceded by something better? That way people reading the A list will know that something might be coming that knocks it from the current top spot, without knowing exactly what it is.

By: Steve Cassidy

Steve Cassidy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:17:48 +0000

I can remember when the whole pre-pre release festival used to get well out of control, and how it fostered an unhealthy culture between manufacturers and writers – something we are still regularily accused of and trying to recover from, even now. For me it’s easy because I am not a “hot news” kinda guy…

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:12:16 +0000

Fortunately companies leak info without realising it. ‘Out of stock’ is getting to be a reliable indicator of product refreshes on online stores. And blogs are regularly flogging rumours. So my advice to any self-respecting journalist is to get himself a pseudonym and a blog. I look forward to these NDAs being tested in court. They are probably useless.

By: JohnAHind

JohnAHind — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:41:33 +0000

Ignorance is seldom bliss, but where daft legal agreements are concerned, ignore-ance often is!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:15:35 +0000

I feel like your keeping something from us here!

By: John

John — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:09:17 +0000

The Ukraine vs England match: Ahh! So that’s what Brucie (in Strictly come Prancing) was on about when he said he’ll be watching the match later on bbc.

By: Paul Ockenden

Paul Ockenden — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:57:16 +0000

What really annoys me about NDAs is when a company gets everyone to sign one, but has a secret agreement with Publication X that they are allowed to publish an early exclusive.

You think you’re signing an NDA to protect the manufacturer, but in reality you’re protecting the competition!

Perhaps when a manufacturer asks us to sign an NDA we should at the same time ask them to sign an FDA (fair disclosure agreement), stops them using NDAs to benefit rival publishers …