The following text is the content of the NDA section of the contract signed by participants to the Pisa Connectathon
The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise ("IHE") initiative has the goal of stimulating integration of information and imaging systems used in the delivery of healthcare. IHE develops guidelines and supports a testing process and other activities to encourage the implementation of standards to enable communication among such systems.
- In order to encourage the exchange of information among participants necessary to the testing process (including the Connectathon testing event to be held April 12-16, 2010) it is important that both the Sponsors and each Participant be protected against improper disclosure of technical or commercial information by any other Participant. Furthermore, the Connectathon process requires participants to resolve as expediently as possible and in a spirit of cooperation any software bugs and interoperability issues that arise during the testing process. The Participant thus agrees to keep confidential and forbear from using for any commercial purposes any information obtained from other participants in the course of the testing process. The Participant further agrees to respect all other Participants and their systems and equipment.The undersigned Participant shall not be obligated to keep information secret and in confidence if it can show that such information:
- Appears in printed publications distributed by the Sponsors in the public domain;
- was public knowledge at the time of its receipt;
- became public knowledge after its receipt without breach of this agreement by the undersigned Participant;
- was rightfully disclosed to the Participant by a third party without an obligation of confidentiality;
- is provably independently developed by the undersigned Participant's personnel without access to the confidential information;
- is required to be disclosed pursuant to a legal, judicial or administrative proceeding or by law; or
- is approved for release by the prior written authorization of all other organizations in question.
- The Sponsors agree to take reasonable steps to provide a work atmosphere conducive to a successful testing process, including discouraging the improper disclosure and use of information by Participants. In consideration of being permitted by the Sponsors to participate in the IHE testing process, the undersigned Participant agrees to hold the Sponsors harmless from any judgments, fines, amounts paid in settlement and reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees incurred by them in connection with the defense of any lawsuit or other claim which involves conduct of the undersigned Participant constituting a breach of the nondisclosure and nonuse obligations described in the preceding paragraphs.
- Supporting information and documents developed by the Sponsors for use within the IHE testing process, including but not limited to specifications, test data and marketing materials are the copyrighted property of IHE and its Sponsors. In the spirit of collaboration and in keeping with copyright law, no Participant may lay claim to the information created for the IHE testing and demonstration process without written consent from the Sponsors. After software, technical information or documentation is formally released into the public domain by the Sponsors in order to further the purposes of the IHE initiative, the foregoing restrictions on disclosure or use will no longer apply to any software and/or technical information or documentation that is so released.
- For the purposes of sharing information with their membership and the public and promoting the IHE initiative, the Sponsors intend to acquire and reproduce representative images of systems being tested by Participants at the Connectathon. Any such images acquired may potentially be used in printed publications, Web pages and multimedia presentations promoting the IHE initiative. Such images will not be used by the Sponsors for any other purpose.
- The undersigned Participant, in consideration of being permitted by IHE Europe to participate in the IHE initiative, hereby grants IHE Europe the absolute and irrevocable right and unrestricted permission to use, re-use, display, distribute, transmit, publish, re-publish, copy, or otherwise exploit, either in whole or in part, either digitally, in print, or in any other medium now or hereafter known, photograph taken of its personnel and equipment, or in which its personnel and equipment may be included; to alter the same without restriction; and to copyright the same. The undersigned understands and agrees that the Sponsors may or may not, as they choose, use the Participant's name in conjunction with the photographs taken.
- The Participant also hereby releases and discharges IHE Europe and their agents, representatives, and assignees from any and all claims and demands arising out of or in connection with the use of the photographs, including without limitation any and all claims for invasion of privacy, right of publicity, and improper disclosure of commercial information.
- Finally, the undersigned Participant acknowledges and agrees that certain software and related technical information and documentation which will eventually be released into the public domain by IHE in connection with the implementation of the IHE initiative (the "IHE Software") will be made available on an "as is" basis and that neither IHE Europe nor any other Participant will make the warranty about the IHE Software, its performance, its merchantability or fitness for any particular use, its freedom from any computer diseases, or its conformity to any specification and that all risk as to the quality and performance of the IHE Software will be with the users of the IHE Software.