Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Covenants a. The Executive acknowledges that i) he will be employed as a high-level employee in an executive and managerial capacity; ii) his employment with the Company gives him access to confidential and proprietary information concerning the Company; iii) his prior employment with South West gave him access to confidential and proprietary information concerning South West; iv) the agreements and covenants contained in this Section 6 (the "Covenants") are essential to protect the business of the Company and to protect the Company's investment in South West; and v) the Executive is to receive consideration pursuant to this Agreement and the Merger Agreement.
b. During the period of the Executive's employment, the Executive agrees that he will not, on behalf of anyone other than the Company, engage in any managerial, executive, sales, or marketing activities related to any business in which the Company is or becomes engaged during the Executive's employment. The Executive acknowledges the competitive nature of the business and the extensive geographic markets served by the Company. The Executive acknowledges that because of his position with the Company his duties will require him to perform, supervise, or assist in performing work throughout the markets served by the Company. The Executive further acknowledges that because of his position with the Company and the broad scope of his duties, he will be in a position to cause substantial harm to the Company were he to compete in the business of the Company or any other business in which the Company is or becomes engaged during Executive's employment in the Company's markets. Given the broad scope of Executive's duties, he acknowledges that the geographic scope of the covenants in this paragraph shall be limited to the continental United States.
c. Should the Executive (i) be terminated with or without cause following the first 90 days of this Agreement, or (ii) resign from his employment or otherwise terminate this Agreement at any time, he agrees that for a twelve (12) month period following the termination of his employment with the Company, the Executive shall not hire or solicit any employee of the Company employed at the time of his termination, or encourage any such employee to leave such employment.
d. If the Executive commits a material breach of, the Covenants, the Company shall have the rights and remedy (in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other rights and remedies available to the Company at law or in equity) to seek injunctive relief, including permanent injunctions; (ii) to have the Covenants specifically enforced by any court of competent jurisdiction (it being agreed that any breach or threatened breach of the Covenants would cause irreparable injury to the Company and that money damages would not provide an adequate remedy to the Company; and (iii) to cease any severance payments or benefits which the Executive or his eligible dependents may otherwise be due.
e. The Executive agrees that the Covenants are necessary for the reasonable and proper protection of the Company and that the Covenants are reasonable in respect of subject matter, length of time, and geographic scope. The Executive further acknowledges that the Covenants will not unreasonably restrict him from earning a livelihood following the termination of his employment with the Company.
f. If any court of competent jurisdiction determines that the Covenants, or any part thereof, are invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of the Covenants shall not thereby be affected and shall be given full effect, without regard to the invalid portions. In such event, the court shall have the power (and the parties hereto request the court) to reduce or modify the duration or scope, or any other unenforceable aspect of such provision, as the case may be, and, in its reduced or modified form, enforce such provision to the maximum extent permissible.
g. The provisions of this Section 6 so far as they relate to the period after the end of the term of this Agreement shall continue to have effect and shall operate as a separate agreement between the Company and the Executive; provided, however, that the provisions of Section 6 (b) shall terminate.
Non Competition Non Solicitation and Confidentiality As a condition to the receipt of this Award, you must agree to the Non-Competition, Non-Solicitation and Confidentiality Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit A by executing that Agreement. Failure to execute and return the Non-Competition, Non-Solicitation and Confidentiality Agreement within 120 days of the Grant Date shall constitute your decision to decline to accept this Award.
Non-Solicitation Covenants (a) The Participant acknowledges and agrees that, during the Participant's employment with the Company and its Affiliates and upon the Participant's termination of Employment with the Company and its Affiliates for any reason, for a period commencing on the termination of such Employment and ending on the second anniversary of such termination, the Participant shall not, whether on Participant's own behalf or on behalf of or in conjunction with any person, company, business entity or other organization whatsoever, directly or indirectly:
(i) solicit any employee of the Company or its Affiliates with whom the Participant had any contact during the last two years of the Participant's employment, or who worked in the same business segment or division as the Participant during that period to terminate employment with the Company or its Affiliates;
(ii) solicit the employment or services of, or hire, any such employee whose employment with the Company or its Affiliates terminated coincident with, or within twelve (12) months prior to or after the termination of Participant's employment with the Company and its Affiliates;
(iii) directly or indirectly, solicit to cease to work with the Company or its Affiliates any consultant then under contract with the Company or its Affiliates.
(b) It is expressly understood and agreed that although the Participant and the Company consider the restrictions contained in this Section 11 to be reasonable, if a final judicial determination is made by a court of competent jurisdiction that the time or any other restriction contained in this Agreement is an unenforceable restriction against the Participant, the provisions of this Agreement shall not be rendered void but shall be deemed amended to apply as to such maximum time and territory and to such maximum extent as such court may judicially determine or indicate to be enforceable. Alternatively, if any court of competent jurisdiction finds that any restriction contained in this Agreement is unenforceable, and such restriction cannot be amended so as to make it enforceable, such finding shall not affect the enforceability of any of the other restrictions contained herein.
Confidentiality and Non-Solicitation (a) Optionee hereby acknowledges that Optionee has or in the future may have access to the Company's trade secrets and proprietary or confidential information developed or acquired by or licensed to the Company, including, but not limited to, information regarding the Company's operations, business plans, customers or prospects, products, computer passwords or other information regarding network or systems access and research and development information, as such trade secrets and proprietary or confidential information may exist from time to time ("Confidential Information"). As consideration for the Option granted to Optionee hereunder, Optionee will not, at any time during Optionee's relationship with the Company, in whole or in part, disclose or cause any other person to disclose the Confidential Information to any other person or entity (except the Company) under any circumstances. In addition, Optionee will not, during the term of Optionee's relationship with the Company, and for a period of one (1) year thereafter, solicit or assist any other person or entity in soliciting any employee of the Company to terminate the employee's employment with the Company under any circumstances.
(b) Optionee acknowledges that if there is a breach of any provision of this paragraph 9 by Optionee, the Company will suffer irreparable harm in that monetary damages would be inadequate to compensate the Company for such a breach. In the event of a breach or threatened breach of any such provisions by Optionee, in addition to such monetary and other relief as may be available, Optionee agrees that the Company will be entitled to injunctive relief as may be necessary to restrain any breach or further breach of such provisions by Optionee, without showing or providing any actual damages or loss sustained by the Company or notice to Optionee.
Confidentiality, Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Employee agrees, as a condition to Employee’s employment with the Company, to execute the Company’s standard form of Employee Non-Disclosure, Invention Release and Non-Competition Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit A.
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Because of the nature of the Company’s Business, and because, as a result of his employment with the Company, the Executive has been and will continue to be exposed to Confidential Information, the Executive acknowledges that the Company would sustain grievous harm in the event that he were to disclose Confidential Information, engage in business activities that compete with the Business, appropriate or divert business or customers of the Company or its affiliates and/or induce employees or consultants of the Company or its affiliates to leave the employment of the Company or its affiliates. The Executive acknowledges that the Company has a legitimate business interest in protecting itself from the aforementioned harm and in the protection and maintenance of the Confidential Information and of the good will and customer relationships of the Company and its affiliates. Therefore, the Executive hereby agrees and covenants to be bound by the non-competition and non-solicitation restrictions set forth herein below, which restrictions the Executive agrees and acknowledges are reasonable and necessary and do not impose undue hardship or burdens on the Executive.
a. The Executive agrees that, during his employment with the Company and for a period of three (3) years following the termination of his employment with the Company, he and his affiliates shall not directly or indirectly own, manage, operate, control, be employed by, consult for, be a shareholder of, be an officer of, participate in, contract with or be connected in any capacity or any manner with any person or entity whose business activities directly or indirectly (whether through related persons, entities or otherwise) compete with the Business anywhere in the United States, Canada and the People’s Republic of China, where the Company or its affiliates is engaged in the Business, PROVIDED HOWEVER, that the Executive shall not be prevented from owning an interest in a publicly traded company so long as the fair market value of such interest at the date of acquisition is less than US$100,000.
b. The Executive agrees that during the period of his employment with the Company and for a period of three (3) years following the termination of his employment with the Company, for any reason, he will not, within the United States, Canada and the People’s Republic of China, where the Company or its affiliates is engaged in the Business, directly or indirectly recruit, induce, divert, supervise, employ, manage, hire or entice, or cause to be recruited, induced, diverted, supervised, employed, managed, hired or enticed, any employee, consultant or independent contractor of the Company or its affiliates to leave or terminate the employment or other relationship thereof, for any reason.
c. The Executive agrees that during the period of his employment with the Company and for a period of three (3) years following the termination of his employment with the Company, he will not, within the United States, Canada and the People’s Republic of China, where the Company or its affiliates is engaged in the Business, directly or indirectly appropriate, call on, induce, divert or solicit, or assist another to appropriate, call on, induce, divert or solicit any actual or potential business or customer away from the Company or its affiliates, or attempt to do any of the foregoing, or otherwise induce or attempt to induce any actual or potential business or customer of the Company or its affiliates, to terminate or adversely modify its relationship with the Company or its affiliates, or to enter into a relationship with or conduct business with the Company or its affiliates, which actual or potential business or customer the Executive was involved with or had a relationship with or whose identity became known to the Executive in connection with the Executive’s employment with the Company.
d. If any of the restrictive covenants set forth in paragraphs 12(a), (b) and (c) of this Agreement is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable (in whole or in part), such restrictive covenant shall be deemed modified to the extent, but only to the extent, of such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability, and a court of competent jurisdiction shall have the power to modify, any such restrictive covenant to the extent necessary to render such provision enforceable, and the remaining restrictive covenant shall not be affected thereby.
e. In the event of a violation of any of the restrictive covenants set forth in paragraphs 12(a), (b) and (c) of this Agreement, if the Executive is prevented by a court or arbitrator from committing any further violation, whether by a temporary restraining order, injunction or otherwise, the time periods set forth in paragraphs 12(a), (b) and (c) of this Agreement shall be computed by commencing the periods on the date of the applicable court or arbitrators’ order and continuing them from that date for the full period provided.
f. The Executive shall have the right to request a waiver of all or part of the restrictive covenants contained in paragraphs 12(a), (b) and (c) of this Agreement by providing the Company with a written request for such a waiver that contains all relevant details. The Company may, in its sole discretion, waive all or part of the restrictive covenants contained in paragraphs 12(a), (b) and (c) of this Agreement on such terms and conditions, and to such extent, as it, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate. Such waiver must be in writing.
g. The parties acknowledge that this Agreement would not have been entered into, that the benefits described in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 would not have been promised to the Executive by the Company, in the absence of the Executive’s covenants and promises set forth in paragraphs 12(a), (b) and (c) of this Agreement.
Non-Competition/Solicitation To the Company’s knowledge, no Respondent is subject to any non-competition agreement or non-solicitation agreement with any employer or prior employer which could materially affect such Respondent’s ability to be and act in the capacity of a director or officer of the Company, as applicable.
Non-Competition; Non-Solicitation; Confidentiality (a) For a period from the Closing Date until the fifth (5th) anniversary of the Closing Date, neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall, directly or indirectly, own, manage, operate, control or participate in the ownership, management, operation or control of any business, whether in corporate, proprietorship or partnership form or otherwise, engaged in the Business or that otherwise competes with the Business (a “Restricted Business”). The parties hereto specifically acknowledge and agree that the remedy at law for any breach of the foregoing will be inadequate and that Newco, in addition to any other relief available to it, shall be entitled to temporary and permanent injunctive relief without the necessity of proving actual damage or posting any bond whatsoever.
(b) For a period from the Closing Date to the fifth (5th) anniversary of the Closing Date, neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall: (i) cause, solicit, induce or encourage any Employees of the Company to leave such employment or hire, employ or otherwise engage any such individual; or (ii) cause, induce or encourage any material actual or prospective client, customer, supplier or licensor of the Business (including any existing or former customer of the Company and any Person that becomes a client or customer of the Business after the Closing) or any other Person who has a material business relationship with the Business, to terminate or modify any such actual or prospective relationship.
(c) The covenants and undertakings contained in this Section 6.7 relate to matters which are of a special, unique and extraordinary character and a violation of any of the terms of this Section 6.7 will cause irreparable injury to Newco, the amount of which will be impossible to estimate or determine and which cannot be adequately compensated. Accordingly, the remedy at law for any breach of this Section 6.7 will be inadequate. Therefore, Newco will be entitled to an injunction, restraining order or other equitable relief from any court of competent jurisdiction in the event of any breach of this Section 6.7. The rights and remedies provided by this Section 6.7 are cumulative and in addition to any other rights and remedies which Newco may have hereunder or at law or in equity.
(d) The parties hereto agree that, if any court of competent jurisdiction in a final nonappealable judgment determines that a specified time period, a specified geographical area, a specified business limitation or any other relevant feature of this Section 6.7 is unreasonable, arbitrary or against public policy, then a lesser time period, geographical area, business limitation or other relevant feature which is determined by such court to be reasonable, not arbitrary and not against public policy may be enforced against the applicable party.
(e) The Company shall use its commercially reasonable efforts to obtain the agreement of the Subsidiaries of the Company to the provisions of this Section 6.7 in form and content reasonably satisfactory to Newco.
Non-Solicitation and Non-Competition Executive and the Company agree that the Company would suffer irreparable harm and incur substantial damage if Executive were to enter into Competition (as defined herein) with the Company. Therefore, in order for the Company to protect its legitimate business interests, Executive agrees as follows:
(i) Without the prior written consent of the Company, Executive shall not, during the period of employment with the Company, directly or indirectly, invest or engage in any business that is Competitive (as defined herein) with the Business of the Company or accept employment or render services to a Competitor (as defined herein) of the Company as a director, officer, agent, employee or consultant or solicit or attempt to solicit or accept business that is Competitive with the Business of the Company, except that Executive may own up to five percent (5%) of any outstanding class of securities of any company registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; provided, however, the Company acknowledges that Executive currently engages in a number of activities set forth on Exhibit B as long as such permitted activities do not have a material adverse effect on the Executive’s performance or this Agreement.
(ii) Without the prior written consent of the Company and upon any termination of Executive’s employment with the Company and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter, Executive shall not, either directly or indirectly, (x) invest or engage in any business that is Competitive (as defined herein) with the Business of the Company, except that Executive may own up to five percent (5%) of any outstanding class of securities of any company registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (y) accept employment with or render services to a Competitor of the Company as a director, officer, agent, employee or consultant unless he is serving in a capacity that has no relationship to that portion of the Competitor’s business that is Competitive with the Business of the Company, or (z) solicit, attempt to solicit or accept business Competitive with the Business of the Company from any of the customers of the Company at the time of his termination or within twelve (12) months prior thereto or from any person or entity whose business the Company was soliciting at such time.
(iii) Upon termination of his employment with the Company, and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter, Executive shall not, either directly or indirectly, engage, hire, employ or solicit in any manner whatsoever the employment of an employee of the Company.
(iv) For purposes of this Agreement, a business or activity is in “Competition” or “Competitive” with the Business of the Company if it involves, and a person or entity is a “Competitor”, if that person or entity is engaged in, or about to become engaged in, the research, development, design, manufacturing, marketing or selling of a specific product or technology that resembles, competes, or is designed to compete, with, or has applications similar to any product or technology for which the Company has obtained or applied for a patent or made disclosures, or any product or technology involving any other proprietary research or development engaged in or conducted by the Company during the Term of Executive’s employment with the Company.
Confidentiality Non Solicitation A&M and Engagement Personnel shall keep as confidential all non-public information received from the Company in conjunction with this engagement, except: (i) as requested by the Company or its legal counsel; (ii) as required by legal proceedings; or (iii) as reasonably required in the performance of this engagement. All obligations as to non-disclosure shall cease as to any part of such information to the extent that such information is, or becomes, public other than as a result of a breach of this provision. The Company, on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries and affiliates and any person which may acquire all or substantially all of its assets agrees that, until two (2) years subsequent to the termination of this engagement, it will not solicit, recruit, hire or otherwise engage any employee of A&M or any of its affiliates who worked on this engagement while employed by A&M or its affiliates (“Solicited Person”). Should the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates or any person who acquires all or substantially all of its assets extend an offer of employment to or otherwise engage any Solicited Person and should such offer be accepted, A&M shall be entitled to a fee from the Company equal to the Solicited Person’s hourly client billing rate at the time of the offer multiplied by 4,000 hours for a Managing Director, 3,000 hours for a Senior Director and 2,000 hours for any other A&M employee. The Company acknowledges and agrees that this fee fairly represents the loss that A&M will suffer if the Company breaches this provision. The fee shall be payable at the time of the Solicited Person’s acceptance of employment or engagement.
