ADVISORY BOARD AGREEMENT
Exhibit 10.1
THIS ADVISORY BOARD AGREEMENT is made effective as of May
1st, 2016, (the “Effective Date”) by and between ACM
Research, Inc., a State of California U.S.A. corporation (the
“Company”), and Prof. Xxxxxxxx Xx (the
“Advisor”).
RECITALS
A. Company
desires to obtain the services of Advisor to serve on the
Company’s Board of Advisors (the “AB”), and the
Advisor desires to serve on the AB, upon the following terms and
conditions.
B. Company has spent significant time, effort, and money to
develop certain Proprietary Information (as defined below), which
Company considers vital to its business and goodwill.
C. The
Proprietary Information may necessarily be communicated to or
received by Advisor in the course of serving on the AB for the
Company, and Company desires to obtain the Services of Advisor,
only if, in doing so, it can protect its Proprietary Information
and goodwill.
D. Company does not, however, desire to receive from
Advisor, or for Advisor to either induce the use of or use in
connection with the performance of the Services, any information
which is confidential to or ownership of which resides in a third
party, whether acquired either prior to or subsequent to
Advisor’s retention hereunder.
AGREEMENT
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto hereby agree as
follows:
1. Advisory Board
Member. Company hereby retains Advisor to serve on its
Advisory Board. The term of this Agreement (the “Term”)
shall be the period commencing on the Effective Date and
terminating upon ten (10) calendar days prior written notice
delivered by either party to the other for any
reason.
Upon
any termination of the Services as provided in the preceding
sentence, this Agreement shall terminate except that the provisions
set forth in Sections 2.b, 4 and 6 of this Agreement shall survive
such termination.
2. Position, Duties,
Responsibilities.
a. Duties. Advisor shall perform those services
(“Services”) as reasonably requested by the Company
from time to time, including but not limited to, the Services
described on Exhibit A attached hereto. Advisor shall devote
Advisor’s commercially reasonable efforts and attention to
the performance of the Services for the Company on a timely basis.
Advisor shall also make himself available to answer questions,
provide advice and provide Services to the Company upon reasonable
request and notice from the Company.
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b. Independent Contractor; No
Conflict. It is understood and agreed, and it is the
intention of the parties hereto, that Advisor is an independent
contractor, and not the employee, agent, joint venturer, or partner
of Company for any purposes whatsoever. Advisor is skilled in
providing the Services,
To the
extent necessary, Advisor shall be solely responsible for any and
all taxes related to the receipt of any compensation under this
Agreement. Advisor hereby represents, warrants and covenants that
Advisor has the right, power and authority to enter into this
Agreement and that neither the execution nor delivery of this
Agreement, nor the performance of the Services by Advisor will
conflict with or result in a breach of the terms, conditions or
provisions of, or constitute a default under, any contract,
covenant or instrument under which Advisor is now or hereinafter
becomes obligated.
Advisor
further warrants and represents that he has not relied upon nor
will relay upon the Company or any of its officers, directors,
attorneys, employees. agents and other representatives for any tax
advice and that Advisor has his/her own professional advisors for
all legal and tax matters.
3. Compensation, Benefits,
Expenses.
a. Compensation. As full and complete consideration of the Services
to be rendered hereunder, the Company shall pay Advisor the
Compensation described on Exhibit A attached
hereto.
b. Reimbursement of
Expenses. Company shall promptly reimburse Advisor for any
reasonable costs and expenses incurred by Advisor in connection
with any Services specifically requested by Company and actually
performed by Advisor pursuant to the terms of this Agreement. Each
such expenditure or cost shall be reimbursed only if: (i) with
respect to costs in excess of $100, individually, Advisor receives
prior approval from the Company’s CEO or CFO or other
executive for such expenditure or cost, and (ii) with respect to
costs in less than $100, individually, provided Advisor furnishes
to Company adequate records and other documents reasonably
acceptable to Company evidencing such expenditure or
cost.
4. Proprietary Information; Work
Product; Non-Disclosure.
a. Defined. Company has conceived, developed and owns, and
continues to conceive and develop, certain property rights and
information, including but not limited to its business plans and
objectives, client and customer information, financial projections,
marketing plans, marketing materials, logos, and designs, and
technical data, inventions, processes, know-how, algorithms,
formulae, franchises, databases, computer programs, computer
software, user interfaces, source codes, object codes,
architectures and structures, display screens, layouts, development
tools and instructions, templates, and other trade secrets,
intangible assets and industrial or proprietary property rights
which may or may not be related directly or indirectly to
Company’s software business and all documentation, media or
other tangible embodiment of or relating to any of the foregoing
and all proprietary rights therein of Company (all of which are
hereinafter referred to as the “Proprietary
Information”). Although certain information may be generally
known in the relevant industry, the fact that Company uses it may
not be so known. In such instance, the knowledge that Company uses
the information would comprise Proprietary Information.
Furthermore, the fact that various fragments of information or data
may be generally known in the relevant industry does not mean that
the manner in which Company combines them, and the results obtained
thereby, are known. In such instance, that would also comprise
Proprietary Information.
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b. General Restrictions on
Use. Advisor agrees to hold all Proprietary Information
in confidence and not to, directly or indirectly, disclose, use,
copy, publish, summarize, or remove from Company’s premises
any Proprietary Information (or remove from the premises any other
property of Company), except (i) during the consulting relationship
to the extent authorized and necessary to carry out Advisor’s
responsibilities under this Agreement, and (ii) after termination
of the consulting relationship, only as specifically authorized in
writing by Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, such
restrictions shall not apply to: (x) information which Advisor can
show was rightfully in Advisor’s possession at the time of
disclosure by Company; (y) information which Advisor can show was
received from a third party who lawfully developed the information
independently of Company or obtained such information from Company
under conditions which did not require that it be held in
confidence; or (z) information which, at the time of disclosure, is
generally available to the public.
c. Ownership of Work
Product. All Work Product shall be considered work(s) made
by Advisor for hire for Company and shall belong exclusively to
Company and its designees. If by operation of law, any of the Work
Product, including all related intellectual property rights, is not
owned in its entirety by Company automatically upon creation
thereof, then Advisor agrees to assign, and hereby assigns, to
Company and its designees the ownership of such Work Product,
including all related intellectual property rights. “Work
Product” shall mean any writings (including excel, power
point, emails, etc.), programming, documentation, data
compilations, reports, and any other media, materials, or other
objects produced as a result of Advisor’s work or delivered
by Advisor in the course of performing that
work.
d. Incidents and Further
Assurances. Company may obtain and hold in its own name
copyrights, registrations, and other protection that may be
available in the Advisor. Advisor agrees to provide any assistance
required to perfect such protection. Advisor agrees to take sure
further actions and execute and deliver such further agreements and
other instruments as Company may reasonably request to give effect
to this Section 4.
e. Return of Proprietary
information. Upon termination of this Agreement, Advisor shall
upon request by the Company promptly deliver to Company at
Company’s sole cost and expense. all drawings, blueprints,
manuals, specification documents, documentation, source or object
codes, tape discs and any other storage media, letters, notes,
notebooks, reports, flowcharts, and all other materials in its
possession or under its control relating to the Proprietary
Information and/or Services, as well as all other property
belonging to Company which is then in Advisor’s possession or
under its control. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Advisor shall
retain ownership of all works owned by Advisor prior to commencing
work for Company hereunder, subject to Company’s
nonexclusive, perpetual, paid up right and license to use such
works in connection with its use of the Services and any Work
Product.
f. Remedies/Additional
Confidentiality Agreements. Nothing in this Section 4 is intended to limit any
remedy of Company under applicable state or federal law. At the
request of Company, Advisor shall also execute Company’s
standard “Confidentiality Agreement” or similarly named
agreement as such agreement is currently applied to and entered
into by Company’s most recent employees.
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5. Non-Compete. During
the Term, Advisor shall provide the Company with prior written
notice if Consultant intends to provide any services, as an
employee, consultant or otherwise, to any person, company or entity
that competes directly with the Company, which written notice shall
include the name of the competitor. During the period that is six
(6) months after the termination of this Agreement, Advisor shall
provide the Company with written notice any time that Advisor
provides any services, as an employee, consultant or otherwise, to
any person, company or entity that competes directly with the
Company. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein,
Company hereby consents to Consultant providing services, as an
employee, consultant or otherwise, to the following
companies.
6. Miscellaneous.
a. Notices. All notices required under this Agreement shall be
deemed to have been given or made for all purposes upon receipt of
such written notice or communication. Notices to each party shall
be sent to the address set forth below the party’s signature
on the signature page of this Agreement. Either party hereto may
change the address to which such communications are to be directed
by giving written notice to the other party hereto of such change
in the manner provided above.
b. Entire
Agreement. This Agreement and any documents attached hereto
as Exhibits constitute the entire agreement and understanding
between the parties with respect to the subject matter herein and
therein, and supersede and replace any and all prior agreements and
understandings, whether oral or written with respect to such
matters. The provisions of this Agreement may be waived, altered,
amended or replaced in whole or in part only upon the written
consent of both parties to this Agreement.
c. Severability, Enforcement. If, for any reason, any provision of this
Agreement shall be determined to be invalid or inoperative, the
validity and effect of the other provisions herein shall not be
affected thereby, provided that no such severability shall be
effective if it causes a material detriment to any
party.
d. Governing
Law. The validity, interpretation, enforceability, and
performance of this Agreement shall be governed by and construed in
accordance with the laws of the State of California. Venue for any
and all disputes arising out of this Agreement shall be the City of
Fremont, County of Alameda, State of
California.
e. Injunctive
Relief. The parties agree that in the event of any breach
or threatened breach of any of the covenants in Section 4, the
damage or imminent damage to the value and the goodwill of
Company’s business will be irreparable and extremely
difficult to estimate, making any remedy at law or in damages
inadequate. Accordingly, the parties agree that Company shall be
entitled to injunctive relief against Advisor in the event of any
breach or threatened breach of any such provisions by Advisor, in
addition to any other relief (including damages) available to
Company under this Agreement or under applicable state or federal
law.
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f. Publicity. Advisor is aware that the Company may incorporate
Advisor’s name, biography, picture, image or personal
likeness (collectively Advisor’s “Personal
Likeness”) into the Company’s website, private
placement memorandum, Company documents and advertising/promotional
materials. Advisor hereby grants to the Company a royalty-free,
irrevocable license and permission to use, exploit, adapt, modify,
reproduce, distribute, and publicly display in any manner now known
or later developed, Advisor’s image, name, biographical
information, voice, or Personal Likeness, throughout the world, by
incorporating Advisor’s Personal Likeness into
Company’s Internet websites, Company’s financing
documents, advertising and marketing materials of the Company.
There shall be no separate royalty due me for use of
Advisor’s Personal Likeness and that Advisor has been fully
compensated by the Company through payments for Advisor’s
services as an independent contractor under this
Agreement.
If
Advisor’s Services to Company is terminated for any reason,
Company shall cease use of Advisor’s Personal Likeness within
six months of the termination of such services except for factual
statements of Advisor’s prior involvement with
Company.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each party hereto has duly executed this
Agreement as of the Effective Date.
COMPANY
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ADVISORY
BOARD MEMBER
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Signature:
/s/ Xxxxx X.
Xxxx
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Signature:
/s/ Xxxxxxxx
Xx
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Name: Xxxxx X. Xxxx
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Name:
Xxxxxxxx
Xx
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Co. Title:
CEO
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EXHIBIT A
SERVICES: Initially
48 months beginning May 1st, 2016. This will be extended upon the written
agreement of both parties.
Consultant
will be a member of the Advisory Board. The term -Advisory
Board” is used to enhance the Company’s image and is a
group of senior advisors and is not part of the governing Board.
Advisor is not a member of the Company’s governing Board of
Directors.
As a
member of the Advisory Board, Consultant will use commercially
reasonable efforts to:
➢
Advise the company
on business development plan proposed by the
management.
➢
Review and advise
the Company’s management on its technical and business
presentation for use with potential investors.
➢
Help make
introductions to potential industry partners and
customers.
➢
Help management
understand the Company’s industry and future technology
trend.
➢
Consult on specific
projects requested from the Company and agreed to by Consultant
from time to time.
Cash Compensation
A
consulting fee of $100,000 per year paid on a calendar quarterly
basis will be paid to Advisor.
Stock Options
Subject
to the appropriate option agreement and usual investor
representations and securities law compliance requirements, the
Board of Directors of the Company agree that Advisor will be
granted the opportunity to purchase up to 250,000 common stock
shares to vest over four years under the Company’s Incentive
Stock Plan and Stock Option Agreement (the Plan). The options would
be Non-Statutory Options and Advisor is strongly advised to consult
with his/her professional legal and/or tax advisor. The exercise
price for the option shares shall be at the fair market value of
the Company’s Common Stock, as determined by the Board of
Directors on the date the Board approves such grant. The shares you
will be given the opportunity to purchase will vest in equal
installments over the term of this Agreement.
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