Virginia Code 59.1-502.16: Idea or information submission
(a) The following rules apply to a submission of an idea or information for the creation, development, or enhancement of computer information which is not made pursuant to an existing agreement requiring the submission:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-502.16
- Agreement: means the bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances, including course of performance, course of dealing, and usage of trade as provided in this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Computer: means an electronic device that accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a result based on a sequence of instructions. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Contract: means the total legal obligation resulting from the parties' agreement as affected by this chapter and other applicable law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Information: means data, text, images, sounds, mask works, or computer programs, including collections and compilations of them. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Party: means a person that engages in a transaction or makes an agreement under this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, governmental subdivision, instrumentality, or agency, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Receipt: means :
(A) with respect to a copy, taking delivery; or
(B) with respect to a notice:
(i) coming to a person's attention; or
(ii) being delivered to and available at a location or system designated by agreement for that purpose or, in the absence of an agreed location or system: (a) being delivered at the person's residence, or the person's place of business through which the contract was made, or at any other place held out by the person as a place for receipt of communications of the kind; or (b) in the case of an electronic notice, coming into existence in an information processing system or at an address in that system in a form capable of being processed by or perceived from a system of that type by a recipient, if the recipient uses, or otherwise has designated or holds out, that place or system for receipt of notices of the kind to be given and the sender does not know that the notice cannot be accessed from that place. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Receive: means to take receipt. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
(1) A contract is not formed and is not implied from the mere receipt of an unsolicited submission.
(2) Engaging in a business, trade, or industry that by custom or practice regularly acquires ideas is not in itself an express or implied solicitation of the information.
(3) If the recipient seasonably notifies the person making the submission that the recipient maintains a procedure to receive and review submissions, a contract is formed only if:
(A) the submission is made and accepted pursuant to that procedure; or
(B) the recipient expressly agrees to terms concerning the submission.
(b) An agreement to disclose an idea creates a contract enforceable against the receiving party only if the idea as disclosed is confidential, concrete, and novel to the business, trade, or industry or the party receiving the disclosure otherwise expressly agreed.