Nvidia very strict NDA leaked

[LiquidMetalBalls]

Nvidia does send NDA‘s that strictly say that you MUST only do positive reviews for everything that Nvidia releases. 

 

Source in german but the original NDA is in english: https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/In-eigener-Sache-Nvidia-NDA-als-Maulkorb-fuer-Journalisten-4091751.html

 

 

[DildorTheDecent]

2 minutes ago, LiquidMetalBalls said:

Nvidia does send NDA‘s that strictly say that you MUST only do positive reviews for everything that Nvidia releases. 

 

Source in german but the original NDA is in english: https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/In-eigener-Sache-Nvidia-NDA-als-Maulkorb-fuer-Journalisten-4091751.html

 

 

Come on man, at least try.

 

[Lathlaer]

14 minutes ago, LiquidMetalBalls said:

Nvidia does send NDA‘s that strictly say that you MUST only do positive reviews for everything that Nvidia releases. 

Where does it say that?

 

It looks to me like a in-blanco NDA stating that whenever you get the information from NVIDIA you are not to disclose it until time specified by NVIDIA. 

[Exotath]

This seems like pretty standard NDA stuff and a lot of fuss over nothing.

Also I've read the NDA posted in the OP and I see nothing about reviewers having to be positive in feedback/reviews.

[Delicieuxz]

I don't see anything in that NDA requiring positive reviews. Only requiring not leaking any confidential information directly or indirectly.

 

This is what the German article says, according to Google translate:

Quote

The NDA should apply to all information provided by Nvidia, so it did not refer to a specific product or information. There was also no concrete expiration date. It was also full of conditions that ran counter to journalistic principles. Our legal department clapped their hands over their heads as they read the document.

 

Thus it is translated (in German translated): "the receiver uses confidential information exclusively in favor of Nvidia". In other words, journalists are allowed to write only what fits Nvidia in the junk. In doing so, Nvidia downgrades the independent press into a marketing tool.

 

And further on, "Notwithstanding the expiration of this Agreement, the recipient's obligations with respect to any Confidential Information will expire five years after the date of their disclosure to the recipient." Anyone who signs this Nvidia NDA has to bow to the will of the American manufacturer for five years - if something is released without permission during this time, the plea is threatened.

 

But Nvidia goes further: "The protection of information, which is a trade secret, never goes out." In other words, if Nvidia thinks that information is a trade secret, then in the worst case, the journalist is never allowed to talk about it.

 

The section it refers to is the Use Restrictions section. That section deals with the handling of confidential material, and not whether the people who sign the NDS create positive or negative impressions of the reviewed product.

[MageTank]

15 minutes ago, LiquidMetalBalls said:

Nvidia does send NDA‘s that strictly say that you MUST only do positive reviews for everything that Nvidia releases. 

I take it you didn't read the very NDA you just posted? Not a single piece of that NDA agrees with your statement. If you are going to attempt to make a news post, please try not to intentionally spread misinformation, it only waters down actual news. 

[Peskanova]

Love 1 post acc's  

[Liquid_Z]

OP must have mistook this forum for a YouTube comments section. 

[Lathlaer]

I think the confusion has been caused by the first sentence of point 3. ("Recipient shall use the Confidential Information solely for the benefit of NVIDIA") which yeah, can be wrongly understood as "your review has to be beneficial to us" but it's later specified that doing it for the benefit means NOT doing certain things.

[Deus Voltage]

Would be nice to have a German speaking techie in the forums, anyone can translate what was posted? 

[MageTank]

2 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

I think the confusion has been caused by the first sentence of point 3. ("Recipient shall use the Confidential Information solely for the benefit of NVIDIA") which yeah, can be wrongly understood as "your review has to be beneficial to us" but it's later specified that doing it for the benefit means NOT doing certain things.

I think it's a mixture of this, along with misinformation being spread by the source itself. Heise is using this NDA as a means to fluff up their "journalistic integrity" by trying to justify them never signing NDA's, and make it look as if they only have the best interests of their readers at heart. The issue is, they are blatantly lying about what this NDA means, and using that lie as a justification, which takes away from their point in the first place. 

[WkdPaul]

Thread moved to the off-topic section.

 

As others have mentioned, this post doesn't follow the Tech News guidelines, and is also false, the NDA doesn't mention that positive reviews are required.

[Lathlaer]

Also, they have a typo lol. (Point 3 appears twice)

[Tech Enthusiast]

11 minutes ago, Deus Voltage said:

Would be nice to have a German speaking techie in the forums, anyone can translate what was posted? 

Basically the german website is about as trustworthy as the most hates US sites.

 

They clearly used a 1:1 translation on some words, exaggerated a little and went with the result.

If you do a word for word translation, without taking into account what those words mean in the other language, it is easy to miss the point. Or, like in this example, totally miss it.

 

If this NDA was written in german, than NVidia would have fucked up. But it is not. So wrong news is wrong and the NDA is totally fine and nothing to get mad about.

 

They also went on with a few more of those wrong translations and found even more to be mad about. At this point it is unclear if they really did not find anyone able to translate, or just wanted to get some clicks.

[FantasticLion3109]

47 minutes ago, Rattenmann said:

They clearly used a 1:1 translation on some words, exaggerated a little and went with the result.

[...]

At this point it is unclear if they really did not find anyone able to translate, or just wanted to get some clicks.

Since I read the original article, I'd say they understood the NDA, but they didn't agree with it and took this opportunity to get some clicks.

 

According to the article, they only sign NDAs that meet the following reqirements:

1. it must be subject to a specific product or information
2. it must be limited to a specific date
3. it must not contain terms that are against journalistic principles

Heise stated that this particular NDA does not meet these requirements, that's all the fuss about.

[Lathlaer]

Besides, imagine the shitstorm if NVIDIA really wanted to force people to write good reviews  I mean, they were bold with the GPP but that thing would be some next level shit.

 

Especially since they don't make $500k exclusive items. They make GPU's that anyone can buy. If they really wanted link giving free hardware to mandatory positive reviews all the major outlets would boycott them and they would simply buy the stuff. They mostly can afford $500-1k GPUs easily. Sure, NVIDIA makes also more expensive stuff (like Titan V, Quadros and Teslas) but they don't give them away for reviews anyway. 

 

1 hour ago, FantasticLion3109 said:

Since I read the original article, I'd say they understood the NDA, but they didn't agree with it and took this opportunity to get some clicks.

I also read the article and while they might have understood the gist of it, there are signs of overzealous interpretation.

[stefan2030]

Hi guys,

greetings from Germany. I am a German native speaker (and English teacher) so I hope to provide some insights into the German article:

 

1. Heise is a generally trusted source that does not take part in gossip (as far as I see it) - full disclosure: I have a subscription to their PC magazine.

 

2. In their article they state that their legal team worked through the NDA and as far as they see it, it's a gag order. (translation of the reaction of the legal team when they read the NDA: "They through their hands up in horror").

 

3. One of the things that the legal team refers to is §3: "Recipients shall use Confidential Information solely for the benefit of NVIDIA and shall not: (a)..." - for them the 'and' seems to do the trick.

 

4. The described time frame of 5 years - in their eyes - signifies that they are not allowed to criticize products for up to 5 years - or even in perpetuity (if it could be classified as a trade secret). I think they stress the point that a "trade secret" is a stretchable term.

 

5. The publisher received the NDA on June 20th and was asked to have signed it by June 22nd at the latest - this also tingled their spidy senses

 

I hope that I could shed some light on the matter.

 

Best wishes from Germany and (to LTT: keep up the good work, I'm a big fan!)

 

Stefan

[Tech Enthusiast]

14 hours ago, FantasticLion3109 said:

Since I read the original article, I'd say they understood the NDA, but they didn't agree with it and took this opportunity to get some clicks.

 

According to the article, they only sign NDAs that meet the following reqirements:

1. it must be subject to a specific product or information
2. it must be limited to a specific date
3. it must not contain terms that are against journalistic principles

Heise stated that this particular NDA does not meet these requirements, that's all the fuss about.

They stated that for all the wrong reasons, without understanding what was written at all.

The whole article was written by someone not speaking english themself, but going by what someone else translated (badly) and said.

 

The NDA is not in the way of any of those journalistic principles at all. All they wanted to do is try if they have enough power to push a company with their articles. Hint: they clearly do not. Even tho all the german replies in that post strongly agree and blindly ignore what the NDA actually says as well.

[TheGermanLinus]

bullshit.

 

heise knows exactly what they talking about! its the no1 techsource in germany!  Own TV Shows, a lot of Magazines and so on... All this BEFORE the internet even exists! 

 

So yeah, they cant read english, and of course the dont know a native english lawyer... Heise is not a small company! wake up.. this shit is real!

[mr moose]

16 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

Thread moved to the off-topic section.

 

As others have mentioned, this post doesn't follow the Tech News guidelines, and is also false, the NDA doesn't mention that positive reviews are required.

It also doesn't say you can't do a negative review, it just says that confidential information is provided for their benefit, not to shit can them with.

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, TheGermanLinus said:

bullshit.

 

heise knows exactly what they talking about! its the no1 techsource in germany!  Own TV Shows, a lot of Magazines and so on... All this BEFORE the internet even exists! 

 

So yeah, they cant read english, and of course the dont know a native english lawyer... Heise is not a small company! wake up.. this shit is real!

We've read the English version. it doesn't say what they are claiming.

[TheGermanLinus]

yeah, so u are a lawyer? this is a complete different language, see examples and explanations above... spongy statement. So u may think that u know what this sentence mean, but as a lawyer u can have a whole other interpretation of it...

 

so if heise says that's fucking stupid, that it is fucking stupid...

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, TheGermanLinus said:

yeah, so u are a lawyer? this is a complete different language, see examples and explanations above... spongy statement. So u may think that u know what this sentence mean, but as a lawyer u can have a whole other interpretation of it...

 

so if heise says that's fucking stupid, that it is fucking stupid...

No, I'm just not a gullible twit that believes everything I read on the internet. 

[NMS]

24 minutes ago, TheGermanLinus said:

bullshit.

 

heise knows exactly what they talking about! its the no1 techsource in germany!  Own TV Shows, a lot of Magazines and so on... All this BEFORE the internet even exists! 

 

So yeah, they cant read english, and of course the dont know a native english lawyer... Heise is not a small company! wake up.. this shit is real!

NDA is English which we can perfectly read and understand.

And then there are these internet claims in no matter what language. So it's just that, a claim from some source that they believe is true. Should we though when we can read the same document they do? No.

[TheGermanLinus]

i can perfectly read and understand german, but there are lots of lawyer stuff that i dont unterstand...

 

but maybe in america the only thing u need is that your reading and understanding in english is perfectly... lucky you! But when shit gets real, u will see what i'm talking about