General Prohibitions Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall, nor shall the Company or any of its Subsidiaries authorize or permit any of its or their officers, directors, employees, investment bankers, attorneys, accountants, consultants or other agents or advisors (“Representatives”) to, directly or indirectly, (i) solicit, initiate or take any action to knowingly facilitate or encourage the submission of any Company Acquisition Proposal, (ii) enter into or participate in any discussions (other than to state that the Company is not permitted to have discussions) or negotiations with any Third Party that is seeking to make, or has made, a Company Acquisition Proposal, (iii) furnish any non-public information relating to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or afford access to the business, properties, assets, books or records of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to, otherwise knowingly cooperate in any way with, or knowingly assist, participate in, facilitate or encourage any effort by any Third Party that is seeking to make, or has made, a Company Acquisition Proposal, (iv) make a Company Adverse Recommendation Change, (v) fail to enforce or grant any waiver or release under any standstill or similar agreement with respect to any class of equity securities of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries unless the Board of Directors of the Company determines after consulting with its outside legal counsel that the failure to waive such provision would be inconsistent with its fiduciary duties under Applicable Law; provided, that the Company shall not enforce and hereby waives any provision of any such agreement that would prohibit a third party from communicating confidentially a Company Acquisition Proposal to the Company’s Board of Directors, (vi) approve any transaction under, or any Person becoming an “interested stockholder” under, Section 203 of Delaware Law or (vii) enter into any agreement in principle, letter of intent, term sheet, merger agreement, acquisition agreement, option agreement or other similar instrument relating to a Company Acquisition Proposal (other than a confidentiality agreement to the extent contemplated by Section 6.03(b)); provided that (so long as the Company and its Representatives have otherwise complied with this Section 6.03) none of the foregoing shall prohibit the Company and its Representatives from, at any time prior to the Company Stockholder Approval, participating in discussions with any Persons or group of Persons who has made a Company Acquisition Proposal after the date of this Agreement solely to request the clarification of the terms and conditions thereof so as to determine whether the Acquisition Proposal is, or could reasonably be expected to lead to, a Superior Proposal, and any such actions shall not be a breach of this Section 6.03(a). It is agreed that any violation of the restrictions on the Company set forth in this Section by any Representative of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries shall be a breach of this Section by the Company.
