We have recently had instances of VVA Pros screenshotting “atta boy” posts from our group and posting them on their personal pages as a promotion.
We see that as a direct infringement to the Mutual NDA signed when all enter the group. Citing from the Mutual NDA –
“1. The Disclosing Party shall identify Confidential Information as proprietary and confidential either by marking it, in the case of written materials, or, in the case of information that is disclosed orally or written materials that are not marked, by notifying the Recipient of the proprietary and confidential nature of the information, such notification to be done orally, by e-mail or written correspondence, or via other means of communication as might be appropriate. The Disclosing Party makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of any Confidential Information, and will have no liability to Recipient or any other person relating to Recipient’s use of any of the Confidential Information or any errors therein or omissions therefrom.”
“2. The Recipient shall, for a period of FIVE (5) YEARS from the date of disclosure, use Confidential Information solely for the Purpose and refrain from disclosing such Confidential Information to any contractor or other third party without prior, written approval from the Disclosing Party and shall protect such Confidential Information from inadvertent disclosure to a third party using the same care and diligence that the Recipient uses to protect its Confidential Information, but in no case less than reasonable care. The Recipient shall ensure that each of its employees, officers, directors, or agents who has access to Confidential Information disclosed under this Agreement is informed of its proprietary and confidential nature and is required to abide by the terms of this Agreement. The Recipient shall promptly notify the Disclosing Party of any disclosure of such Confidential Information in violation of this Agreement or of any subpoena or other legal process requiring production or disclosure of said Confidential Information.”
Approval is most readily given to points of education such as educating videos, context and concepts with data (Polygon or generalized VTB reports), and other information that as a group is good for all consumers utilizing their VA benefit.
Material that is construed to be self-promotion leads to the observance that we are merely a Leads or Referral group and we will not abide by this activity.
In no way are we saying that clients should not give reviews. But utilize a review through standard practices where the client goes directly to the Professionals page/Google/review engine, etc. That will benefit the professional directly more than sharing a screenshot. Citing from the Mutual NDA –
“4. The terms of this Agreement shall not be construed to limit either Party’s right to develop independently or acquire products without use of the other Party’s Confidential Information. The Disclosing Party acknowledges that the Recipient may currently or in the future be developing information internally, or receiving information from other parties, that is similar to the Confidential Information. Nothing in this Agreement will prohibit the Recipient from developing or having developed for it products, concepts, systems, or techniques that are similar to or compete with the products, concepts, systems, or techniques contemplated by or embodied in the Confidential Information provided that the Recipient does not violate any of its obligations under this Agreement in connection with such development.”
We will deal with further infractions on this strictly with decisive action. Citing from the Terms of Use –
“Membership may be revoked for any violation of these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or any other behavior that we determine, in our sole discretion, to be unbecoming a professional service provider, including any act we determined to be an infringement of Commander’s Intent while operating as a Vetted VA Professional member. Such actions taken to revoke membership will result in no refund being issued for membership fees” (pg 2, Pont 4.B).
If there are other questions, confusions, or concerns please do reach out right away. In this instance it is best to ask for permision instead of forgiveness.
