IP Intelligence › Myths › An NDA means I can show the invention to anyone.
Patent myth
“An NDA means I can show the invention to anyone.”
A confidentiality agreement helps only to the extent it actually binds the people who saw the invention, and can be shown to have done so.
Disclosure under an obligation of confidence is not disclosure to the public. But a signed agreement with one investor does not cover the twelve people in the room, the demonstration filmed on a phone, or the pitch deck forwarded onwards. The question is always evidential: who saw what, and what obligation bound them.
An NDA that covers the meeting but not the audience is worth very little when a competitor's document surfaces.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Act, 1970 (consolidated to 1 August 2024) — Official IP India text
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Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.
Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.
Last reviewed by Ragulika IP on 2026-08-23. Indian patent law and Patent Office practice change; check the position before you rely on it.