Covenant of Confidentiality All documents, records, files, manuals, forms, materials, supplies, computer programs, trade secrets and other information which comes into EXECUTIVE's possession from time to time during EXECUTIVE's employment by COMPANY and/or any of COMPANY's subsidiaries or affiliates, shall be deemed to be confidential and proprietary to COMPANY and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of COMPANY. EXECUTIVE acknowledges that all such confidential and proprietary information is confidential and proprietary and not readily available to COMPANY's business competitors. On the effective date of the termination of the employment relationship or at such other date as specified by COMPANY, EXECUTIVE agrees that he will return to COMPANY all such confidential and proprietary items (including, but not limited to, Company marketing material, business cards, keys, etc.) in his control or possession, and all copies thereof, and that he will not remove any such items from the offices of COMPANY.
Covenants regarding Party C Party B (as a shareholder of Party C) and Party C hereby covenant as follows:
2.1.1 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall not in any manner supplement, change or amend the articles of association of Party C, increase or decrease its registered capital, or change its structure of registered capital in other manners;
2.1.2 They shall maintain Party C’s corporate existence in accordance with good financial and business standards and practices, obtain and maintain all necessary government licenses and permits by prudently and effectively operating its business and handling its affairs;
2.1.3 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall not at any time following the date hereof, sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of in any manner any assets of Party C or legal or beneficial interest in the material business or revenues of Party C, or allow the encumbrance thereon of any security interest;
2.1.4 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall not incur, inherit, guarantee or suffer the existence of any debt, except for payables incurred in the ordinary course of business other than through loans;
2.1.5 They shall always operate all of Party C’s businesses in the ordinary course of business to maintain the asset value of Party C and refrain from any action/omission that may affect Party C’s operating status and asset value;
2.1.6 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall not cause Party C to execute any major contract, except the contracts in the ordinary course of business (for purpose of this subsection, a contract with a price exceeding RMB100,000 shall be deemed a major contract);
2.1.7 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall not cause Party C to provide any person with any loan or credit;
2.1.8 They shall provide Party A with information on Party C’s business operations and financial condition at Party A’s request;
2.1.9 If requested by Party A, they shall procure and maintain insurance in respect of Party C’s assets and business from an insurance carrier acceptable to Party A, at an amount and type of coverage typical for companies that operate similar businesses;
2.1.10 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall not cause or permit Party C to merge, consolidate with, acquire or invest in any person;
2.1.11 They shall immediately notify Party A of the occurrence or possible occurrence of any litigation, arbitration or administrative proceedings relating to Party C’s assets, business or revenue;
2.1.12 To maintain the ownership by Party C of all of its assets, they shall execute all necessary or appropriate documents, take all necessary or appropriate actions, file all necessary or appropriate complaints, and raise necessary or appropriate defenses against all claims;
2.1.13 Without the prior written consent of Party A, they shall ensure that Party C shall not in any manner distribute dividends to its shareholders, provided that upon Party A’s written request, Party C shall immediately distribute all distributable profits to its shareholders;
2.1.14 At the request of Party A, they shall appoint any person designated by Party A as the director or executive director of Party C.
2.1.15 Without Party A’s prior written consent, they shall not engage in any business in competition with Party A or its affiliates; and
2.1.16 Unless otherwise required by PRC law, Party C shall not be dissolved or liquated without prior written consent by Party A.
Non-Disclosure and Non-Use of Confidential Information The Receiving Party shall use the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information only for the purpose of evaluating the Relationship and for the purposes of the ongoing Relationship, and shall protect such Confidential Information from disclosure to third parties, using the same degree of care used to protect its own proprietary information of like importance, but in any case using no less than a reasonable degree of care. The Receiving Party shall not make any copies of Confidential Information unless the same are previously approved of in writing by the Disclosing Party. The Receiving Party shall reproduce the Disclosing Party’s proprietary rights notices on any such approved copies, in the same manner in which such notices were set forth in or on the original. The Receiving Party may disclose the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information to its affiliates, employees and consultants (“Representatives”), in each case only if such Representatives have a need to know, and provided that such Representatives (i) use the Confidential Information for the purposes of the Relationship only, and (ii) are bound to protect the Confidential Information as required hereunder. The Receiving Party shall immediately notify the Disclosing Party in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure of the Confidential Information. The Receiving Party agrees not to reverse engineer, disassemble or decompile any prototypes, software or other tangible objects which embody the Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information and which are provided to the Receiving Party hereunder. The Parties shall each be responsible for any breach of the terms of this Agreement by them or their Representatives and agree, at their sole expense, to take all reasonable measures (including, but not limited to, court proceedings) to restrain their respective Representatives from prohibited or unauthorized disclosure or use of the Confidential Information.
Covenants and Confidential Information (a) The Executive acknowledges the Company’s reliance and expectation of the Executive’s continued commitment to performance of the Executive’s duties and responsibilities during the term of this Employment Agreement. In light of such reliance and expectation on the part of the Company, during the term of this Employment Agreement and for a period of one (1) year thereafter (and, as to clause (ii) of this subparagraph (a), at any time during and after the term of this Employment Agreement), the Executive shall not, directly or indirectly do or suffer either of the following:
(i) own, manage, control or participate in the ownership, management or control of, or be employed or engaged by or otherwise affiliated or associated as a consultant, independent contractor or otherwise with, any other corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, association or other business entity engaged in the business of, or otherwise engage in the business of, acquiring, owning, developing or managing commercial shopping centers; provided, however, that the ownership of not more than one percent (1%) of any class of publicly traded securities of any entity shall not be deemed a violation of this covenant; or
(ii) disclose, divulge, discuss, copy or otherwise use or suffer to be used in any manner, in competition with, or contrary to the interests of, the Company, any confidential information relating to the Company’s operations, properties or otherwise to its particular business or other trade secrets of the Company, it being acknowledged by the Executive that all such information regarding the business of the Company compiled or obtained by, or furnished to, the Executive while the Executive shall have been employed by or associated with the Company is confidential information and the Company’s exclusive property; provided, however, that the foregoing restrictions shall not apply to the extent that such information (A) is clearly obtainable in the public domain, (B) becomes obtainable in the public domain, except by reason of the breach by the Executive of the terms hereof, (C) was not acquired by the Executive in connection with the Executive’s employment or affiliation with the Company, (D) was not acquired by the Executive from the Company or its representatives or (E) is required to be disclosed by rule of law or by order of a court or governmental body or agency.
(b) The Executive will not directly or indirectly during the term of this Employment Agreement and for a period of one (1) year after the expiration of this Employment Agreement or the termination of Executive’s employment for any reason, solicit or induce or attempt to solicit or induce any employee(s) of the Company and/or any subsidiary, affiliated or related companies to terminate their employment with the Company and/or any subsidiary, affiliated or related companies.
(c) The Executive agrees and understands that the remedy at law for any breach by the Executive of this Paragraph 7 will be inadequate and that the damages following from such breach are not readily susceptible to being measured in monetary terms. Accordingly, it is acknowledged that, upon adequate proof of the Executive’s violation of any legally enforceable provision of this Paragraph 7, the Company shall be entitled to immediate injunctive relief and may obtain a temporary order restraining any threatened or further breach. Nothing in this Paragraph 7 shall be deemed to limit the Company’s remedies at law or in equity for any breach by the Executive of any of the provisions of this Paragraph 7 which may be pursued or availed of by the Company.
(d) The Executive has carefully considered the nature and extent of the restrictions upon him and the rights and remedies conferred upon the Company under this Paragraph 7, and hereby acknowledges and agrees that the same are reasonable in time and territory, are designed to eliminate competition which otherwise would be unfair to the Company, do not stifle the inherent skill and experience of the Executive, would not operate as a bar to the Executive’s sole means of support, are fully required to protect the legitimate interests of the Company and do not confer a benefit upon the Company disproportionate to the detriment to the Executive.
Noncompetition and Confidentiality (a) The parties recognize that the employment of Executive with the Company has been and will continue to be special, unique and of an extraordinary character, and in connection with such employment Executive has and will continue to acquire special skill and training. The parties also recognize that the covenants of Executive contained in this Section 9 are an essential part of Executive’s engagement by the Company and that, but for the agreement of the Executive to comply with such covenants, the Company would not have entered into this Agreement. Executive accordingly agrees that, during the Term, (i) Executive shall not act or serve, directly or indirectly, as a principal, agent, independent contractor, consultant, director, officer, executive, employee or advisor or in any other position or capacity with or for, or acquire a direct or indirect ownership interest in or otherwise conduct (whether as stockholder, partner, investor, joint venturer, or as owner of any other type of interest), any Competing Business (defined below); provided, however, that this clause shall not prohibit the Executive from being the owner of (A) up to 5% of any class of outstanding securities of any entity if such class of securities is publicly traded or (B) any other securities owned by Executive on the date of this Agreement, and (ii) Executive shall not, in connection with or for the benefit of any person or entity engaged in the non-hazardous solid waste business, solicit, induce, divert or take away, any officer, employee or consultant of the Company.
(b) From the date hereof, Executive shall hold in secrecy for the Company all trade secrets and other confidential information relating to the business and affairs of the Company that have come or may have come to his attention during his employment with the Company, including information concerning costs, profits, markets, sales, business development plans, lists of clients or customers, lists of acquisition targets and other information about such acquisition targets and other information of a similar nature (such categories of information being referred to herein as “Confidential Information”). Executive shall not use for his own benefit or disclose to any person any Confidential Information other than in the ordinary course of the Company’s business or in response to a court order, unless such use or disclosure has the prior written authorization of the Company. Executive shall deliver to the Company, upon request, all correspondence, memoranda, notes, records, plans, customer lists, product compositions and other documents and all copies thereof, whether in hard copy form or electronically or magnetically stored, made, composed, or received by the Executive, solely or jointly with others, that are in the Executive’s possession, custody or control and that are related in any manner to the past, present or anticipated business of the Company.
(c) For the purposes of this Section 9, “Competing Business” shall mean an individual, business, corporation, association, firm, undertaking, partnership, joint venture, organization or other entity that operates non-hazardous solid waste landfills, non-hazardous solid waste collection businesses or similar facilities or businesses within a 50-mile radius of any of the landfills or similar facilities of the Company, Guarantor or any affiliate thereof.
(d) Should any portion of this Section 9 be deemed unenforceable because of the scope, duration or territory encompassed by the undertakings of the Executive hereunder, and only in such event, then the Executive and the Company consent and agree to such limitation on scope, duration or territory as may be finally adjudicated as enforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction after the exhaustion of all appeals.
(e) The covenants in this Section 9 shall be construed as an agreement ancillary to the other provisions of this Agreement, and the existence of any claim or cause of action of the Executive against the Company, whether predicated on this Agreement or otherwise, other than a claim or cause of action based on the Company’s failure to pay Executive amounts payable to Executive hereunder, shall not constitute a defense to the enforcement by the Company of this covenant.
(f) It is expressly recognized and agreed that the covenants set forth in this Section 9 are for the purpose of restricting the activities of the Executive only to the extent necessary for the protection of the legitimate business interests of the Company, and the Company and the Executive agree that said covenants are reasonable for that purpose and that such covenants do not and will not preclude Executive from engaging in activities sufficient for the purpose of earning a living.
