Secret Processes and Confidential Information. (a) The Executive agrees to hold in strict confidence and, except as the Company may authorize or direct, not disclose to any person or use (except in the performance of his services hereunder) any confidential information or materials received by the Executive from the Company and any confidential information or materials of other parties received by the Executive in connection with the performance of his duties hereunder. For purposes of this Section 7(a), confidential information or materials shall include, but are not limited to, existing and potential customer information, existing and potential supplier information, product information, design and construction information, pricing and profitability information, financial information, sales and marketing strategies and techniques and business ideas or practices (hereafter “Confidential Information”). The restriction on the Executive’s use or disclosure of Confidential Information shall remain in force during the Executive’s employment hereunder and until the earlier of (x) the expiration of a period of two (2) years thereafter or (y) such time as the Confidential Information is of general knowledge in the industry through no fault of the Executive or any agent of the Executive. The Executive also agrees to return to the Company promptly upon its request any Company information or materials in the Executive’s possession or under the Executive’s control. This Section 7(a) is not intended to preclude Executive from being gainfully employed by another. Rather, it is intended to prohibit Executive from using the Company’s confidential information or materials in any subsequent employment or employment undertaken that is not for the benefit of the Company during the identified period. (b) The Executive will promptly disclose to the Company and to no other person, firm or entity all inventions, discoveries, improvements, trade secrets, formulas, techniques, processes, know-how and similar matters, whether or not patentable and whether or not reduced to practice, which are conceived or learned by the Executive during the period of the Executive’s employment with the Company, either alone or with others, which relate to or result from the actual or anticipated business or research of the Company or which result, to any extent, from the Executive’s use of the Company’s premises or property (collectively called the “Inventions”). The Executive acknowledges and agrees that all the Inventions shall be the sole property of the Company, and the Executive hereby assigns to the Company all of the Executive’s rights and interests in and to all of the Inventions, it being acknowledged and agreed by the Executive that all the Inventions are works made for hire. The Company shall be the sole owner of all domestic and foreign rights and interests in the Inventions. The Executive agrees to assist the Company at the Company’s expense to obtain and from time to time enforce patents and copyrights on the Inventions. (c) Upon the request of, and, in any event, upon termination of the Executive’s employment with the Company, the Executive shall promptly deliver to the Company all documents, data, records, notes, drawings, manuals and all other tangible information in whatever form which pertains to the Company, and the Executive will not retain any such information or any reproduction or excerpt thereof. Nothing in this Agreement or elsewhere shall prevent the Executive from retaining his desk calendars, address book and rolodex. (d) Nothing in this Section 7 diminishes or limits any protection granted by law to trade secrets or relieves the Executive of any duty not to disclose, use or misappropriate any information that is a trade secret for as long as such information remains a trade secret.
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Secret Processes and Confidential Information. (a) The Executive agrees to hold in strict confidence and, except as the Company may authorize or direct, not disclose to any person or use (except in the performance of his services hereunder) any confidential information or materials received by the Executive from the Company and any confidential information or materials of other parties received by the Executive in connection with the performance of his duties hereunder. For purposes of this Section 7(a), confidential information or materials shall include, but are not limited to, existing and potential customer information, existing and potential supplier information, product information, design and construction information, pricing and profitability information, financial information, sales and marketing strategies and techniques and business ideas or practices (hereafter “Confidential Information”). The restriction on the Executive’s use or disclosure of Confidential Information shall remain in force during the Executive’s employment hereunder and until the earlier of (x) the expiration of a period of two (2) years thereafter or (y) such time as the Confidential Information is of general knowledge in the industry through no fault of the Executive or any agent of the Executive. The Executive also agrees to return to the Company promptly upon its request any Company information or materials in the Executive’s possession or under the Executive’s control. This Section 7(a) is not intended to preclude Executive from being gainfully employed by another. Rather, it is intended to prohibit Executive from using the Company’s confidential information or materials in any subsequent employment or employment undertaken that is not for the benefit of the Company during the identified period.
(b) The Executive will promptly disclose to the Company and to no other person, firm or entity all inventions, discoveries, improvements, trade secrets, formulas, techniques, processes, know-how and similar matters, whether or not patentable and whether or not reduced to practice, which are conceived or learned by the Executive during the period of the Executive’s employment with the Company, either alone or with others, which relate to or result from the actual or anticipated business or research of the Company or which result, to any extent, from the Executive’s use of the Company’s premises or property (collectively called the “Inventions”). The Executive acknowledges and agrees that all the Inventions shall be the sole property of the Company, and the Executive hereby assigns to the Company all of the Executive’s rights and interests in and to all of the Inventions, it being acknowledged and agreed by the Executive that all the Inventions are works made for hire. The Company shall be the sole owner of all domestic and foreign rights and interests in the Inventions. The Executive agrees to assist the Company at the Company’s expense to obtain and from time to time enforce patents and copyrights on the Inventions.
(c) Upon the request of, and, in any event, upon termination of the Executive’s employment with the Company, the Executive shall promptly deliver to the Company all documents, data, records, notes, drawings, manuals and all other tangible information in whatever form which pertains to the Company, and the Executive will not retain any such information or any reproduction or excerpt thereof. Nothing in this Agreement or elsewhere shall prevent the Executive from retaining his desk calendars, address book and rolodex.
(d) Nothing in this Section 7 diminishes or limits any protection granted by law to trade secrets or relieves the Executive of any duty not to disclose, use or misappropriate any information that is a trade secret for as long as such information remains a trade secret.
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Secret Processes and Confidential Information. (a) The Executive agrees to hold in strict confidence and, except as the Company may authorize or direct, not disclose to any person or use (except in the performance of his services hereunder) any confidential information or materials received by the Executive from the Company and any confidential information or materials of other parties received by the Executive in connection with the performance of his duties hereunder. For purposes of this Section 7(a), confidential information or materials shall include, but are not limited to, include existing and potential customer or vendor information, existing and potential supplier information, product information, design and construction information, pricing and profitability information, financial information, sales and marketing strategies and techniques, know-how and negative know-how, product developments, inventions, technical data, ideas, forecasting reports, marketing techniques and materials, cost information, margin information, information regarding the Company’s interactions with third parties, governmental entities and personnel, personnel data, employee compensation, salary, and benefits, performance reviews, and business plans, ideas or practices (hereafter “practices. Confidential Information”)information or materials shall not include any information that has entered or enters the public domain through no fault of Executive, was already in Executive’s possession or was available to Executive in a non-confidential basis before disclosure, is independently developed by Executive without using the confidential information or materials or the Company's resources, or is based on Executive’s general knowledge or skills. As to confidential information or materials that constitute a trade secret, the restrictions in this paragraph shall last for as long as the item qualifies as a trade secret under federal or state law. The restriction on the Executive’s use or disclosure of Confidential Information the confidential information or materials that do not constitute a trade secret shall remain in force during the Executive’s employment hereunder and until the earlier of (x) the expiration of a period of two seven (27) years thereafter or (y) such time as the Confidential Information information is of general knowledge in the industry through no fault of the Executive or any agent of the Executive. The Executive also agrees to return to the Company promptly upon its request any Company information or materials in the Executive’s possession or under the Executive’s control. This Section 7(a) is not intended to preclude Executive from being gainfully employed by anotheranother entity, organization, association or person, or from being gainfully self-employed. Rather, it is intended to prohibit Executive from using the Company’s confidential information or materials in any subsequent employment or employment undertaken that is not for the benefit of the Company during the identified period.
(b) The Executive will promptly disclose to the Company and to no other person, firm or entity all inventions, discoveries, improvements, trade secrets, formulas, techniques, processes, know-how and similar matters, whether or not patentable and whether or not reduced to practice, which are conceived or learned by the Executive during the period of the Executive’s employment with the Company, either alone or with others, which relate to or result from the actual or anticipated business or research of the Company or which result, to any extent, from the Executive’s use of the Company’s premises or property (collectively called the “Inventions”). The Executive acknowledges and agrees that all the Inventions shall be the sole property of the Company, and the Executive hereby assigns to the Company all of the Executive’s rights and interests in and to all of the Inventions, it being acknowledged and agreed by the Executive that all the Inventions are works made for hire. The Company shall be the sole owner of all domestic and foreign rights and interests in the Inventions. The Executive agrees to assist the Company Company, at the Company’s expense expense, to obtain and obtain, maintain, and, from time to time time, enforce patents and copyrights on the Inventions, which assistance shall include Executive’s execution of any such instruments or the performance of any such acts as may be reasonably requested by the Company to perfect the Company's ownership of all legally protectable rights in any Inventions. To the extent that any such rights or interests cannot be assigned under applicable law, and to the extent allowed by applicable law, Executive hereby waives such rights and consents to any action of the Company that otherwise would violate such rights in the absence of such waiver or consent. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this paragraph requires Executive to assign or offer to assign to the Company any invention that Executive developed entirely on his own time without using the Company's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information except for those inventions that either: (1) relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the Company’s business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the Company; or (2) result from any work performed by Executive for the Company.
(c) Upon the request ofof the Company, and, in any event, upon termination of the Executive’s employment with the CompanyCompany for any reason, the Executive shall promptly deliver to the Company all Company property, including, but not limited to, documents, passwords, data, records, notes, drawings, manuals manuals, credit cards, keys and key cards, computers, laptops, iPads, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, iPhones, Blackberry devices or similar instruments, other equipment of any sort, badges, vehicles, and any other property of the Company, and all other tangible information in whatever form which pertains to the Company, and the Executive will not retain any such property, information or any reproduction or excerpt thereof. In addition, upon the Company’s request, Executive agrees to and shall also provide to the Company (i) the Executive’s iPad, iPhone and/or personal computer/tablet/phone to the Company’s IT department for removal of any information of the Company and (ii) any and all access codes or passwords necessary to gain access to any computer, program or other equipment that belongs to the Company or is maintained by the Company or on Company property. Further, Executive acknowledges an obligation and agrees not to destroy, delete or disable any Company property, including items, files and materials on computers and laptops. Nothing in this Agreement or elsewhere shall prevent the Executive from retaining his desk calendars, address book and rolodex, but not the contact information of any customers, vendors, or suppliers of the Company.
(d) Nothing in this Section 7 diminishes or limits any protection granted by law to trade secrets or relieves the Executive of any duty not to disclose, use or misappropriate any information that is a trade secret for as long as such information remains a trade secret.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision in this Agreement or any agreements on confidentiality, trade secrets or inventions, employment or severance agreements, or any other agreement that Executive may have entered into with the Company or any subsidiaries or affiliates thereof on or prior to the date hereof (collectively, the “Confidentiality Agreements”), nothing contained in any of the Confidentiality Agreements shall (i) prohibit Executive from cooperating with or reporting to the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) possible violations of any law or regulation of the SEC, (ii) prohibit Executive from cooperating with or making other disclosures to the staff of the SEC that are protected under the whistleblower provisions of any federal securities laws or regulations or (iii) limit Executive’s right to receive an award for information provided to the SEC staff in accordance with the foregoing. In addition, Executive shall not be prohibited from cooperating with or reporting to any government agency, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or any other federal, state or local agency or authority. Executive does not need the prior authorizations of the Company to engage in such cooperation, reports, communications or disclosures and Executive is not required to notify the Company if he engages in any such cooperation, reports, communications or disclosures.
(f) Nothing in this Agreement (or any prior agreement on confidentiality to which Executive may be subject) diminishes or limits any protection granted by law to trade secrets or relieves Executive of any duty not to disclose, use, or misappropriate any information that is a trade secret, for as long as such information remains a trade secret. Additionally, nothing in this Agreement (or any prior agreement on confidentiality to which Executive may be subject) is intended to discourage Executive from reporting any theft of trade secrets to the appropriate government official pursuant to the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”) or other applicable state or federal law. Additionally, under the DTSA, a trade secret may be disclosed to report a suspected violation of law and/or in an anti-retaliation lawsuit, as follows:
(i) An individual shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any Federal or State trade secret law for the disclosure of a trade secret that: (A) is made (1) in confidence to a Federal, State, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (2) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (B) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
(ii) An individual who files a lawsuit for retaliation by an employer for reporting a suspected violation of law may disclose the trade secret to the attorney of the individual and use the trade secret information in the court proceeding, if the individual: (A) files any document containing the trade secret under seal; and (B) does not disclose the trade secret, except pursuant to court order. Nothing in this Agreement (or any prior agreement on confidentiality to which Executive may be subject) shall limit, curtail or diminish the Company’s statutory rights under the DTSA, any applicable state law regarding trade secrets or common law.
(g) The sections and subsections in Sections 6 and 7 of this Agreement shall be considered separate and independent from each other and any other sections and/or subsections of this Agreement. No invalidity of any one of those provisions shall affect any other section or provision of this Agreement, and, as such, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. Any provision of this Agreement held invalid or unenforceable only in part or degree will remain in full force and effect to the extent not held invalid or unenforceable. If any court of competent jurisdiction holds the geographic, business, or temporal scope of any non-competition, non-solicitation, or confidentiality provision in this Agreement to be invalid or unenforceable, then such restrictive covenant will be construed as a series of parallel restrictive covenants and the geographic, business, or temporal scope of such restrictive covenant will be deemed modified (including by application of any "blue pencil" doctrine under applicable law) to the minimum extent necessary to render such restrictive covenant valid and enforceable.
Appears in 1 contract
Secret Processes and Confidential Information. (a) The Executive agrees to hold in strict confidence and, except as the Company may authorize or direct, not disclose to any person or use (except in the performance of his services hereunder) any confidential information or materials received by the Executive from the Company and any confidential information or materials of other parties received by the Executive in connection with the performance of his duties hereunder. For purposes of this Section 7(a), confidential information or materials shall include, but are not limited to, include existing and potential customer or vendor information, existing and potential supplier information, product information, design and construction information, pricing and profitability information, financial information, sales and marketing strategies and techniques, know-how and negative know-how, product developments, inventions, technical data, ideas, forecasting reports, marketing techniques and materials, cost information, margin information, information regarding the Company’s interactions with third parties, governmental entities and personnel, personnel data, employee compensation, salary, and benefits, performance reviews, and business plans, ideas or practices (hereafter “practices. Confidential Information”)information or materials shall not include any information that has entered or enters the public domain through no fault of Executive, was already in Executive’s possession or was available to Executive in a non-confidential basis before disclosure, is independently developed by Executive without using the confidential information or materials or the Company's resources, or is based on Executive’s general knowledge or skills. As to confidential information or materials that constitute a trade secret, the restrictions in this paragraph shall last for as long as the item qualifies as a trade secret under federal or state law. The restriction on the Executive’s use or disclosure of Confidential Information the confidential information or materials that do not constitute a trade secret shall remain in force during the Executive’s employment hereunder and until the earlier of (x) the expiration of a period of two seven (27) years thereafter or (y) such time as the Confidential Information information is of general knowledge in the industry through no fault of the Executive or any agent of the Executive. The Executive also agrees to return to the Company promptly upon its request any Company information or materials in the Executive’s possession or under the Executive’s control. This Section 7(a) is not intended to preclude Executive from being gainfully employed by anotheranother entity, organization, association or person, or from being gainfully self-employed. Rather, it is intended to prohibit Executive from using the Company’s confidential information or materials in any subsequent employment or employment undertaken that is not for the benefit of the Company during the identified period.
(b) The Executive will promptly disclose to the Company and to no other person, firm or entity all inventions, discoveries, improvements, trade secrets, formulas, techniques, processes, know-how and similar matters, whether or not patentable and whether or not reduced to practice, which are conceived or learned by the Executive during the period of the Executive’s employment with the Company, either alone or with others, which relate to or result from the actual or anticipated business or research of the Company or which result, to any extent, from the Executive’s use of the Company’s premises or property (collectively called the “Inventions”). The Executive acknowledges and agrees that all the Inventions shall be the sole property of the Company, and the Executive hereby assigns to the Company all of the Executive’s rights and interests in and to all of the Inventions, it being acknowledged and agreed by the Executive that all the Inventions are works made for hire. The Company shall be the sole owner of all domestic and foreign rights and interests in the Inventions. The Executive agrees to assist the Company Company, at the Company’s expense expense, to obtain and obtain, maintain, and, from time to time time, enforce patents and copyrights on the Inventions, which assistance shall include Executive’s execution of any such instruments or the performance of any such acts as may be reasonably requested by the Company to perfect the Company's ownership of all legally protectable rights in any Inventions. To the extent that any such rights or interests cannot be assigned under applicable law, and to the extent allowed by applicable law, Executive hereby waives such rights and consents to any action of the Company that otherwise would violate such rights in the absence of such waiver or consent. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this paragraph requires Executive to assign or offer to assign to the Company any invention that Executive developed entirely on his own time without using the Company's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information except for those inventions that either: (1) relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the Company’s business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the Company; or (2) result from any work performed by Executive for the Company.
(c) Upon the request ofof the Company, and, in any event, upon termination of the Executive’s employment with the CompanyCompany for any reason, the Executive shall promptly deliver to the Company all Company property, including, but not limited to, documents, passwords, data, records, notes, drawings, manuals manuals, credit cards, keys and key cards, computers, laptops, iPads, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, iPhones, Blackberry devices or similar instruments, other equipment of any sort, badges, vehicles, and any other property of the Company, and all other tangible information in whatever form which pertains to the Company, and the Executive will not retain any such property, information or any reproduction or excerpt thereof. In addition, upon the Company’s request, Executive agrees to and shall also provide to (i) the Company's IT department for removal of any information of the Company, the Executive’s iPad, iPhone and/or personal computer/tablet/phone; provided, that such device contains Company information and (ii) the Company any and all access codes or passwords necessary to gain access to any computer, program or other equipment that belongs to the Company or is maintained by the Company or on Company property. Further, Executive acknowledges an obligation and agrees not to destroy, delete or disable any Company property, including items, files and materials on computers and laptops. Nothing in this Agreement or elsewhere shall prevent the Executive from retaining his desk calendars, address book and rolodex, but not the contact information of any customers, vendors, or suppliers of the Company.
(d) Nothing in this Section 7 diminishes or limits any protection granted by law to trade secrets or relieves the Executive of any duty not to disclose, use or misappropriate any information that is a trade secret for as long as such information remains a trade secret.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision in this Agreement or any agreements on confidentiality, trade secrets or inventions, employment or severance agreements, or any other agreement that Executive may have entered into with the Company or any subsidiaries or affiliates thereof on or prior to the date hereof (collectively, the “Confidentiality Agreements”), nothing contained in any of the Confidentiality Agreements shall (i) prohibit Executive from cooperating with or reporting to the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) possible violations of any law or regulation of the SEC, (ii) prohibit Executive from cooperating with or making other disclosures to the staff of the SEC that are protected under the whistleblower provisions of any federal securities laws or regulations or (iii) limit Executive’s right to receive an award for information provided to the SEC staff in accordance with the foregoing. In addition, Executive shall not be prohibited from cooperating with or reporting to any government agency, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Labor, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or any other federal, state or local agency or authority. Executive does not need the prior authorizations of the Company to engage in such cooperation, reports, communications or disclosures and Executive is not required to notify the Company if he engages in any such cooperation, reports, communications or disclosures.
(f) Nothing in this Agreement (or any prior agreement on confidentiality to which Executive may be subject) diminishes or limits any protection granted by law to trade secrets or relieves Executive of any duty not to disclose, use, or misappropriate any information that is a trade secret, for as long as such information remains a trade secret. Additionally, nothing in this Agreement (or any prior agreement on confidentiality to which Executive may be subject) is intended to discourage Executive from reporting any theft of trade secrets to the appropriate government official pursuant to the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”) or other applicable state or federal law. Additionally, under the DTSA, a trade secret may be disclosed to report a suspected violation of law and/or in an anti-retaliation lawsuit, as follows:
(i) An individual shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any Federal or State trade secret law for the disclosure of a trade secret that: (A) is made (1) in confidence to a Federal, State, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (2) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (B) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
(ii) An individual who files a lawsuit for retaliation by an employer for reporting a suspected violation of law may disclose the trade secret to the attorney of the individual and use the trade secret information in the court proceeding, if the individual: (A) files any document containing the trade secret under seal; and (B) does not disclose the trade secret, except pursuant to court order. Nothing in this Agreement (or any prior agreement on confidentiality to which Executive may be subject) shall limit, curtail or diminish the Company’s statutory rights under the DTSA, any applicable state law regarding trade secrets or common law.
(g) The sections and subsections in Sections 6 and 7 of this Agreement shall be considered separate and independent from each other and any other sections and/or subsections of this Agreement. No invalidity of any one of those provisions shall affect any other section or provision of this Agreement, and, as such, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. Any provision of this Agreement held invalid or unenforceable only in part or degree will remain in full force and effect to the extent not held invalid or unenforceable. If any court of competent jurisdiction holds the geographic, business, or temporal scope of any non-competition, non-solicitation, or confidentiality provision in this Agreement to be invalid or unenforceable, then such restrictive covenant will be construed as a series of parallel restrictive covenants and the geographic, business, or temporal scope of such restrictive covenant will be deemed modified (including by application of any "blue pencil" doctrine under applicable law) to the minimum extent necessary to render such restrictive covenant valid and enforceable.
Appears in 1 contract
