[insert address of sender]

Our ref: [insert reference]

Your ref: [insert reference]

[insert address of recipient]

Date: [insert date]

Dear [insert organisation name]

1 Thank you for your interest in making a submission to [insert company name].

2 You will appreciate that we receive a large number of submissions from all sorts of people and organisations. Our business has an active research and development function and, at any given time, we will be involved in numerous research and development projects in a range of different areas.

3 From time to time, there may be a situation where you submit an idea or materials relating to something you have developed or research you have done and, independently, we have developed or researched something similar or we already hold other similar information. In such a situation, we would not want, by agreeing to keep information contained in your submission confidential, to be restricted in what we can do with our research and development or information we hold. We are also keen to avoid potential misunderstandings or conflicts of interest.