EMPLOYEE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION, INVENTIONS ASSIGNMENT AND NON-COMPETITION AGREEMENT
Exhibit 10.3
EMPLOYEE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION, INVENTIONS
THIS EMPLOYEE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION, INVENTIONS ASSIGNMENT AND NON-COMPETITION AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”) is made as of the date set forth below between CHF Solutions,
Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and the undersigned employee of the Company (“Employee”).
This Agreement confirms certain terms of Employee’s employment with the Company, which Employee acknowledges are a material part of the
consideration for Employee’s employment by the Company, and the compensation received by Employee from the Company from time to time.
1. Definitions. The following capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the following meanings:
“Company
Documents and Materials” means documents or other media, whether in tangible or intangible form, that contain or embody Proprietary Information or any other information concerning the business, operations or plans of the Company, whether
such documents or media have been prepared by Employee or by others. Company Documents and Materials include, without limitation, blueprints, drawings, photographs, charts, graphs, notebooks, tests, test results, experiments, customer lists,
computer disks, tapes or printouts, sound recordings and other printed, electronic, typewritten or handwritten documents or information, sample products, prototypes and models.
“Inventions” means, without
limitation, all software programs or subroutines, source or object code, algorithms, improvements, inventions, works of authorship, trade secrets, technology, designs, formulas, ideas, processes, techniques, know-how and data, whether or not
patentable or copyrightable, made or discovered or conceived or reduced to practice or developed by Employee, either alone or jointly with others.
“Proprietary Information”
means information that was or will be developed, created, or discovered by or on behalf of the Company, or which became or will become known to, or was or is conveyed to the Company, which has commercial value in the Company’s business, whether or
not patentable or copyrightable, including, without limitation, information about software programs and subroutines, source and object code, algorithms, trade secrets, designs, technology, know-how, processes, data, ideas, techniques, inventions,
works of authorship, formulas, business and product development plans, customer lists, terms of compensation and performance levels of the Company’s employees and consultants, the Company’s customers and other information concerning the Company’s
actual or anticipated business, research or development, or which is received in confidence by or for the Company from any other person or entity.
1
2. Confidentiality of Proprietary Information.
(a) Nature of Information. Employee understands that the Company possesses and will possess
Proprietary Information which is important to its business. Employee understands that Employee’s engagement creates a relationship of confidence and trust between the Company and Employee with respect to Proprietary Information.
(b) Property of the Company. Employee acknowledges and agrees that all Company Documents and Materials, Proprietary Information and all patents, patent rights, copyrights, trade secret
rights, trademark rights and other rights (including, without limitation, intellectual property rights) anywhere in the world in connection therewith is and shall be the sole property of the Company. Employee hereby assigns to the Company any and
all rights, title and interest Employee may have or acquire in the Proprietary Information or any Company Documents and Materials.
(c) Confidentiality. At all times, both during the term of Employee’s engagement by the Company and after Employee’s
termination, Employee shall keep in confidence and trust and shall not use or disclose any Proprietary Information or anything relating to it without the prior written consent of the Chief Executive Officer of the Company or other duly designated officer of the Company, except as may be necessary in the ordinary course of performing Employee’s duties for the Company; provided, however, that Employee shall
have no such obligation with respect to Proprietary Information that (i) was already known to Employee at the time of its disclosure to Employee by or on behalf of the Company, as evidenced by written records (ii) at the time of disclosure to
Employee was generally available to the public or otherwise in the public domain, or (iii) subsequent to such disclosure becomes generally available to the public without fault on Employee’s part.
(d) Compelled Disclosure. In the event that Employee is requested in any proceeding to disclose any Proprietary Information, Employee shall give the Company prompt notice of such request so
that the Company may seek an appropriate protective order. If, in the absence of a protective order, Employee is nonetheless compelled by any court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction to disclose Proprietary Information, Employee may disclose
such information without liability hereunder; provided, however, that Employee gives the Company notice of the Proprietary Information to be disclosed as far in advance of its disclosure as is practicable and uses Employee’s best efforts to obtain
assurances that confidential treatment will be accorded to such Proprietary Information.
(e) Records. Employee agrees to make and maintain adequate and current written records, in a form
specified by the Company, of all Inventions, trade secrets and works of authorship assigned or to be assigned to the Company pursuant to this Agreement.
(f) Handling of the Company Documents and Materials. Employee agrees that during Employee’s employment by the Company, Employee shall not remove any Company Documents and Materials from the business premises of the Company or deliver any Company Documents and Materials to any
person or entity outside the Company, except as Employee may be required to do in connection with performing the duties of Employee’s employment. Employee further agrees that, immediately upon the termination of Employee’s employment by Employee
or by the Company for any reason, or during Employee’s employment if so requested by the Company, Employee shall return all Company Documents and Materials, apparatus, equipment and other physical property, or any reproduction of such property,
excepting only (i) Employee’s personal copies of personnel records and records relating to Employee’s compensation and benefits; and (ii) Employee’s copy of all agreements between Employee and the Company including this Agreement.
2
3. Inventions.
(a) Disclosure. Employee shall promptly disclose in writing to Employee’s immediate supervisor or to such other person designated by the Company all Inventions made during the term of
Employee’s employment. Employee shall also disclose to Employee’s immediate supervisor or such designee all Inventions made, discovered, conceived, reduced to practice or developed by Employee either alone or jointly with others, within six (6)
months after the termination of Employee’s employment with the Company which resulted, in whole or in part, from Employee’s prior employment by the Company. Such disclosures shall be received by the Company in confidence, to the extent such
Inventions are not assigned to the Company pursuant to subsection (b) below, and do not extend the assignments made in such subsection.
(b) Assignment of Inventions to the Company. Except as provided in Sections 3(c) and 3(d), Employee agrees that all
Inventions which Employee makes, discovers, conceives, reduces to practice or develops (in whole or in part, either alone or jointly with others) during Employee's employment, including, but not limited to, conceptions or ideas derived prior to
employment and developed for the first time (in whole or in part, either alone or jointly with others) during employment, shall be the sole property of the Company to the maximum extent permitted by law and Employee agrees to assign and hereby does
assign to the Company any right, title and interest Employee has to the Inventions.
(c) Works Made for Hire. Employee agrees that the Company shall be the sole owner of all patents, patent rights, copyrights, trade secret rights, trademark rights and all other intellectual
property or other rights in connection with Inventions. Employee further acknowledges and agrees that such Inventions, including, without limitation, any computer programs, programming documentation and other works of authorship, are “works made
for hire” for purposes of the Company’s rights under copyright laws. Employee hereby assigns to the Company any and all rights, title and interest Employee may have or acquire in such Inventions. If in the course of Employee’s employment with the
Company, Employee incorporates into a Company product, process or a machine a prior Invention or improvement owned by Employee or in which Employee has an interest, and listed in Exhibit 1, the Company is hereby granted and shall have a
non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, sublicensable, worldwide license to make, have made, modify, use, market, sell and distribute such prior Invention as part of or in connection with such product process or machine. Pursuant to
Section 3(d), if in the course of Employee’s employment with the Company, Employee incorporates into a Company product, process or a machine a prior Invention or improvement owned by Employee or in which Employee has an interest, but not listed in
Exhibit 1, Employee agrees to assign and hereby does assign all Employee’s rights and interest in the Invention to the Company.
3
(d) List of Inventions. Employee has attached hereto as Exhibit B a complete list of all Inventions or improvements to which Employee claims ownership or in which
Employee has an interest and that Employee desires to remove from the operation of this Agreement. Employee acknowledges and agrees that such list is complete. If no such list is
attached to this Agreement or such Exhibit has not been completed and signed by Employee, Employee represents to the Company and agrees that Employee has no such Inventions or improvements at the time of signing this Agreement.
(e) Cooperation. Employee agrees to perform, during and after Employee’s employment, all acts deemed necessary or desirable by
the Company to permit and assist it, at the Company’s expense, in further evidencing and perfecting the assignments made to the Company under this Agreement and in obtaining, maintaining, defending and enforcing patents, patent rights,
copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret rights or any other rights in connection with such Inventions and improvements in any and all countries. Such acts may include, without limitation, execution of documents and reasonable
assistance or cooperation in legal proceedings. Employee hereby irrevocably designates and appoints the Company and its duly authorized officers and agents, as Employee’s agents and attorney-in-fact, coupled with an interest, to act for and on
Employee’s behalf and in Employee’s place and stead, to execute and file any documents, applications or related findings and to do all other lawfully permitted acts to further the
purposes set forth above in this Section, including, without limitation, the perfection of assignment and the prosecution and issuance of patents, patent applications, filing with the FDA, copyright applications and registrations, trademark
applications and registrations or other rights in connection with such Inventions and improvements with the same legal force and effect as if executed by Employee.
(f) Assignment or Waiver of Moral Rights. Any assignment of copyright hereunder (and any ownership of a copyright as a work made for hire) includes all rights of paternity, integrity,
disclosure and withdrawal and any other rights that may be known as or referred to as “Moral Rights” (collectively, “Moral Rights”). To
the extent such Moral Rights cannot be assigned under applicable law and to the extent the following is allowed by the law in the various countries where Moral Rights exist, Employee hereby waives such Moral Rights and consents to any action of the
Company that would violate such Moral Rights in the absence of such consent.
(g) Holdover
Assignment.
(i) Employee agrees to, after the
termination of Employee’s employment with the Company for any reason, (1) disclose immediately to the Company all Inventions, patentable or not; (2) assist, at the Company’s expenses such applications for United States patents and foreign patents
covering such Inventions as the Company may request; (3) assign to the Company without further compensation to Employee the entire title and rights to all such Inventions and applications that Employee may have, and (4) execute, acknowledge,
deliver, or act as otherwise necessary at the request of the Company all such papers, including but not limited to patent applications, assignments, power of attorney, as necessary to secure the Company the full rights to such Inventions and
applications.
4
(ii) The
Inventions which shall come under this Section 3(g) shall include all Inventions that (1) Employee conceives, reduces to practice, or otherwise makes or develops, either solely or jointly with others, within one year after the termination of
Employee’s employment with the Company; and (2) are in any way based on any trade secret or confidential or proprietary information that Employee learned during employment at the Company; or result from any work performed by Employee for the
Company.
4. Non-Solicitation or Hire of Company Employees. During the term of Employee’s employment and for one (1) year thereafter, Employee shall not encourage or solicit
any employee of the Company to leave the Company for any reason or to accept employment with any other person or entity. As part of this restriction, Employee shall not (a) interview or provide any input to any third party regarding any such
person during such time period, or (b) retain or hire in any capacity, either individually or for any company by which Employee may be employed or with which Employee may be affiliated, any person who is or was employed by the Company at any time
during the time of Employee’s employment with Company and six (6) months after the termination of Employee’s employment with the Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the restrictions of this Section shall not apply with respect to the bona fide hiring and firing of the Company personnel to the extent such acts are part of Employee’s duties for the Company.
5. Non-Solicitation of Non-Employees. During the term of this Agreement and for one (1) year thereafter, Employee shall not interfere with or attempt to impair the
relationship between the Company and any of its non-employee consultants and advisors or customers, nor shall Employee attempt, directly or indirectly, to solicit, entice, hire or otherwise induce any non-employee consultant or advisor or customer
of the Company to terminate association with Company
6. Non-Competition. During the term of Employee’s employment and for one (1) year thereafter, Employee shall not, with or without consideration, render services in
any capacity to any person, or the division or subsidiary of any business, firm or company engaged in any business which has a product competitive with a product of the Company which Employee was involved with at the time of Employee’s employment
by the Company, or the termination of Employee’s employment. Employee shall not become interested in any portion of a business which has competitive product with a product of the Company which Employee was involved with while employed by the
Company, either directly or indirectly, as partner, stockholder, principal, member, employee, agent, trustee, consultant, or any other relationship or capacity; provided, however, that such restriction shall not apply with respect to a less than or
equal to a one percent (1%) of an entity which is publicly traded and listed on a recognized securities exchange. Nothing herein shall prevent Employee after termination of his Employment from being employed by a division or subsidiary of a
company that does not have any products which compete with products developed or in the process of being developed by the Company at the time of the Employee’s employment by the Company, even though such new employer has other divisions or
subsidiaries which have products competitive with the Company’s products.
5
7. Reasonableness of Terms. The Company and Employee agree that the terms contained in Sections 2-6 of this Agreement are reasonable in all respects and that the
restrictions contained therein are designed to ensure that Employee does not engage in unfair competition with the Company. In the event a court determines that any of the terms or provisions of this Agreement are unreasonable, the court may limit
the application of any provision or term, or modify any provision or term, and proceed to enforce this Agreement as so limited or modified.
8. Remedies. Employee acknowledges that a violation of the terms of this Agreement may give rise to irreparable injury to the Company inadequately compensable in
damages, and accordingly, agrees that the Company may seek injunctive relief against such breach or threatened breach, in addition to any other legal remedies which may be available, including recovery of monetary damages. In any action
successfully brought by the Company to enforce the rights of the Company against Employee under this Agreement, the Company shall also be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of the action, and the period of the restrictions
above shall be deemed to commence upon the entry of the court’s order for relief.
9. General.
(a) Severability. Employee agrees that if one or more provisions of this Agreement are held to be
unenforceable under applicable law, such provisions shall be excluded from this Agreement and the balance of the Agreement shall be interpreted as if such provision were so excluded and shall be enforceable in accordance with its terms.
(b) Authorization to Notify New Employer. Employee hereby authorizes the Company to notify Employee’s new employer about Employee’s rights and obligations under this Agreement following the
termination of Employee’s employment with the Company.
(c) Entire Agreement. This Agreement sets forth the entire agreement and understanding between the
Company and Employee relating to the subject matter herein and supersedes all prior discussions between them, including but not limited to any and all statements made by any officer, employee or representative of the Company regarding the Company’s
financial condition or future prospects. Employee understands and acknowledges that, except as set forth in this Agreement and in the offer letter from the Company to Employee, (i) no other representation or inducement has been made to Employee,
(ii) Employee has relied on Employee’s own judgment and investigation in accepting Employee’s employment with the Company, and (iii) Employee has not relied on any representation or inducement made by any officer, employee or representative of the
Company.
(d) Amendment. No modification of or
amendment to this Agreement nor any waiver of any rights under this Agreement shall be effective unless in a writing signed by the Company and Employee. Employee understands
and agrees that any subsequent change or changes in Employee’s duties, salary or compensation shall not affect the validity or scope of this Agreement.
(e) Effective Date and Binding Effect. This Agreement shall be effective as of the first day of
Employee’s employment with the Company and shall be binding upon Employee, Employee’s heirs, executor, assigns and administrators and shall inure to the benefit of the Company, its subsidiaries, successors and assigns.
6
(f) Governing Law; Consent to Jurisdiction, Waiver of Jury Trial. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Minnesota, without
regard to its principles of conflicts of laws. Each of the parties hereto irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Minnesota and the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota for the purpose
of any suit, action, proceeding or judgment relating to or arising out of this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby. Service of process in connection with any such suit, action or proceeding may be served on each party hereto
anywhere in the world by the same methods as are specified for the giving of notices under this Agreement. Each of the parties hereto irrevocably consents to the jurisdiction of any such court in any such suit, action or proceeding and to the
laying of venue in such court. Each party hereto irrevocably waives any objection to the laying of venue of any such suit, action or proceeding brought in such courts and irrevocably waives any claim that any such suit, action or proceeding
brought in any such court has been brought in an inconvenient forum.
EMPLOYEE HAS READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY AND UNDERSTANDS AND ACCEPTS THE OBLIGATIONS WHICH IT IMPOSES UPON EMPLOYEE WITHOUT RESERVATION. NO PROMISES OR
REPRESENTATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO EMPLOYEE TO INDUCE EMPLOYEE TO SIGN THIS AGREEMENT. EMPLOYEE SIGNS THIS AGREEMENT VOLUNTARILY AND FREELY.
|
THE COMPANY:
|
EMPLOYEE:
|
|
|
Xxxxxx Xxxxx
Vice President Human Resources
|
||
|
Date
|
Date
|
7
Exhibit B
The following is a complete list of all Inventions or improvements relevant to the subject matter of Employee’s employment by the
Company that have been made or discovered or conceived or first reduced to practice by Employee either alone or jointly with others prior to Employee’s employment by the Company that Employee desires to remove from the operation of the Company’s
Employee Proprietary Information, Inventions Assignment and Non-Competition Agreement: (check all that apply)
| ☐ |
No Inventions or improvements.
|
| ☐ |
See below: Any and all Inventions regarding:
|
| ☐ |
Additional sheets attached.
|
Employee proposes to bring to Employee’s employment the following materials and documents of a former employer:
| ☐ |
No materials or documents
|
| ☐ |
See below:
|
|
EMPLOYEE:
|
|
|
Date
|
