Return of Confidential Information and Company Property Upon termination of the Executive’s employment for any reason, the Executive shall immediately return all Confidential Information and other Company property to the Company.
Company Creation and Use of Confidential Information The Executive understands and acknowledges that the Company has invested, and continues to invest, substantial time, money and specialized knowledge into developing its resources, creating a customer base, generating customer and potential customer lists, training its employees, and improving its product offerings in the field of financial services. The Executive understands and acknowledges that as a result of these efforts, the Company has created, and continues to use and create Confidential Information. This Confidential Information provides the Company with a competitive advantage over others in the marketplace.
Access to Confidential Information Executive acknowledges that the special relationship of trust and confidence between him, the Company, and its clients and customers creates a high risk and opportunity for Executive to misappropriate the relationship and goodwill existing between the Company and its clients and customers. Executive further acknowledges and agrees that it is fair and reasonable for the Company to take steps to protect itself from the risk of such misappropriation. Executive further acknowledges that, at the outset of his employment with the Company and/or throughout his employment with the Company, Executive has been or will be provided with access to and informed of the Company’s Confidential Information, which will enable him to benefit from the Company’s goodwill and know-how.
Maintaining Confidential Information Executive reaffirms his obligations under the Confidentiality Agreement. Executive acknowledges and agrees that the payments provided in Section 3 above shall be subject to Executive’s continued compliance with Executive’s obligations under the Confidentiality Agreement.
Scope of Confidential Information Executive acknowledges that the Company has developed, and will during the term of Executive’s employment continue to develop, substantial, confidential, competitively valuable information and other intangible or “intellectual property” in connection with its business, some or all of which is proprietary to the Company, (collectively, the “Confidential Information”). Without limiting the generality of the preceding sentence, Executive expressly recognizes and agrees that, subject to the remainder of this Section 5.2, the following items, and all copies, summaries, extracts or derivative works thereof, are entitled to trade secret protection and constitute Confidential Information under this Agreement, whether developed prior to the date hereof or thereafter, and whether with the assistance of Executive or otherwise: (i) the Company’s proprietary computer software, databases and lists of customers, prospects, candidates, and employees; employee applications; skills inventory sheets and similar summaries of employee qualifications, as well as employee compensation; customer ordering habits, billing rates, buying preferences, and short term needs; sales reports and analysis; (ii) employee reports and analysis; customer job orders and profit margin data; businesses processes, methods of operation and sales techniques; (iii) statistical information regarding the Company; (iv) financial information of the Company and its customers that is not publicly available; (v) specially negotiated terms and pricing with vendors and customers; (vi) research and development, business projects, strategic business plans, and strategies; products and solution services offered to customers; and (vii) any other non-public information of the Company that gives the Company a competitive advantage by virtue of it not being generally known. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Confidential Information shall not include (a) any information which is or becomes publicly available, other than as a result of the wrongful action of Executive or his agents; (b) any information independently developed by Executive subsequent to the Date of Termination; (c) any information made available to Executive following the termination of Executive’s employment from a third party not known by Executive to be under binder of confidentiality to the Company with regard thereto or (d) any information as to which the Company specifically waives its rights hereunder pursuant to an instrument in writing.
Return of Confidential Information Subject to Section 4.2(e) of this Agreement, upon the request of a party, the other party shall return all Confidential Information to the other; provided, however, (i) each party shall be permitted to retain copies of the other party’s Confidential Information solely for archival, audit, disaster recovery, legal and/or regulatory purposes, and (ii) neither party will be required to search archived electronic back-up files of its computer systems for the other party’s Confidential Information in order to purge the other party’s Confidential Information from its archived files; provided further, that any Confidential Information so retained will (x) remain subject to the obligations and restrictions contained in this Agreement, (y) will be maintained in accordance with the retaining party’s document retention policies and procedures, and (z) the retaining party will not use the retained Confidential Information for any other purpose.
Third Party Confidential Information Consultant recognizes that the Company has received and in the future will receive from third parties their confidential or proprietary information subject to a duty on the Company’s part to maintain the confidentiality of such information and to use it only for certain limited purposes. Consultant agrees that at all times during the term of this Agreement and thereafter, Consultant owes the Company and such third parties a duty to hold all such confidential or proprietary information in the strictest confidence and not to use it or to disclose it to any person, firm, corporation, or other third party except as necessary in carrying out the Services for the Company consistent with the Company’s agreement with such third party.
Confidential Information and Company Property Subject to Paragraph 6, I agree to use Company’s Confidential Information only in the performance of my duties, to hold such information in confidence and trust, and not to engage in any unauthorized use or disclosure of such information during my employment and for so long thereafter as such information qualifies as Confidential Information. “Confidential Information” means an item of information or compilation of information in any form (tangible or intangible) related to the Company’s Business that I acquire or gain access to during my employment that the Company has not authorized public disclosure of, and that is not readily available to the public or persons outside the Company. By way of example and not limitation, Confidential Information is understood to include: lists and records, contact information, private contract terms, business preferences, and historical transaction data regarding existing and prospective customers; non-public records and data regarding the Company’s financial performance; business plans and strategies, forecasts and analyses; internal business methods and systems, know how, and innovations; marketing plans, research and analysis; unpublished pricing information, and variables such as costs, discounting options, and profit margins; business sale and acquisition opportunities identified by the Company and related analysis; records of private dealings with vendors, suppliers, and distributors; and Company trade secrets. I acknowledge that items of Confidential Information are the Company’s valuable assets and have economic value because they are not generally known by the public or others who could use them to their own economic benefit and/or to the competitive disadvantage of the Company. I agree that all records, in any form (such as email, database, correspondence, notes, files, contact lists, drawings, specifications, spreadsheets, manuals, and calendars) that contain Confidential Information or otherwise relate to the Company’s Business, with the exception of wage and benefit related materials provided to me as an employee for my own use as an employee, are the property of the Company (collectively “Company Records”). I will follow all Company policies regarding use or storage of Company Records, and return all such records (including all copies) when my employment with Company ends or sooner if requested. Confidential Information does not include information lawfully acquired by a non-management employee about wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment when used for purposes protected by §7 of the National Labor Relations Act such as joining or forming a union, engaging in collective bargaining, or engaging in other concerted activity for mutual aid or protection of laborers. For purpose of clarity, it shall still be a violation of this Agreement for a non-management employee to wrongfully compete by sharing Confidential Information with a competitor about other employees’ compensation and benefits which was obtained through the course of employment with the Company for purposes of assisting such competitor in soliciting Company employees.
Exceptions to Confidential Information Confidential Information will not include any information, which the receiving party can prove by competent written evidence:
Confidential Information of Others Executive certifies that Executive has not, and will not, disclose or use during Executive’s time as an employee of the Company, any confidential information which Executive acquired as a result of any previous employment or under a contractual obligation of confidentiality or secrecy before Executive became an employee of the Company.
