Hardware & Technical Do not trust prerelease "news" on nvidia products!

Shadowdancer

Shadowdancer
Hot on the heels of their anticompetitive "partner program", nvidia have recently sent out a draconic NDA that journalists would have to sign, transparently under threat of being cut off from product news. That NDA is not restricted to any specific product or service, and uses a very broad definition of "confidential information" covering anything nvidia deems to tell or show them. That NDA blocks signatories from disclosing or reporting on any information unless nvidia sign it off, and restricts publications to be "solely for the benefit of NVIDIA".

The NDA is shown here: https://www.heise.de/newsticker/mel...A-als-Maulkorb-fuer-Journalisten-4091751.html (article is in German, but the NDA is available as an image in English).

If this was between nv and, e.g., one of their production partners or OEMs, it would not be as bad, but enforcing those terms on the press is inexcusable. Being asked if they were crazy, nvidia are reported to have replied that "many journalists" had already signed it, so be very careful about reporting and bring a bag of salt.

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[VR] optimal_909

[VR] optimal_909
1. News were already quite unreliable, at this point I don't believe any news regarding nVidia's products
2. Now this NDA is the most credible news that something is indeed in the works :)
3. This company is a walking PR disaster, fortunately (for them) they can get away with it
 

Shadowdancer

Shadowdancer
Thing here is, Heise have been around a long time and through many rounds of legal shenanigans, and their legal department plain out went "hell no"; as much as I may not like some things they're doing, I would give their interpretation some weight. The agreement is not specific in any way, is not limited in scope or time, and has very loose language. It's nice that GN found a lawyer (who is hopefully willing, licensed, and competent to represent them in court if push comes to shove) giving them a lenient interpretation, but once you sign something like that, you're first and foremost submitting to nvidia's interpretation, and that's a problem.

This is not a document you carpet-bomb "the press" with, it's something you hand to select entities you want to do very specific business with, and then you put in a very specific scope. You don't send it to people on the 20th of June with a deadline on the 22nd and a vague threat of "or else".
 
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Jacques d'Orleans

Banned
Jacques d'Orleans
Heise.de :rolleyes:

What Heise, conveniently forgets to mention, is the fact that this agreement is subject to several restrictions.
The NDA only refers to information that Nvidia explicitly informs us in advance under confidentiality.
Information that has become generally known does not fall under the NDA.
Confidentiality ends when a product is published!
So as soon as, for example, a new graphics card appears, the press is allowed to write what they want and when they want.

It is also conveniently not mentioned by the author, that the relationship between Nvidia and Heise is almost like hereditary preloaded.
Journalists of integrity would have mentioned that aspect to make a classification of the dispute more understandable to their readers.

For me this Heise hit piece has the taste of a personal feud.

But it's Heise.de, somehow I didn't expected anything else from them. :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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