Non-Solicitation Agreement Executive agrees and covenants that he will not, unless acting with the Company’s express written consent, directly or indirectly, during the Term of this Agreement or during the Non-Competition Period (as defined in Section 11 above) solicit, entice or attempt to entice away or interfere in any manner with the Company’s relationships or proposed relationships with any customer, officer, employee, consultant, proposed customer, vendor, supplier, proposed vendor or supplier or person or entity or person providing or proposed to provide research and/or development services to, on behalf of or with the Company.
Non-Solicitation The Shareholder hereby covenants and irrevocably agrees that it shall, from the date hereof until the earlier of (i) the termination of this Agreement pursuant to Article 4 and (ii) the Effective Time:
(a) not, directly or indirectly, through any officer, director, employee, representative (including any financial or other advisor) or agent or otherwise, and shall not permit any such person to:
(i) solicit, assist, initiate, knowingly encourage or otherwise facilitate (including by way of furnishing or providing copies of, access to, or disclosure of, any confidential information, properties, facilities, books or records of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or entering into any form of agreement, arrangement or understanding) any inquiry, proposal or offer that constitutes an Acquisition Proposal;
(ii) enter into or otherwise engage or participate in any discussions or negotiations with any Person (other than any Purchaser Party or Purchaser Party Representative) regarding any inquiry, proposal or offer that constitutes or could reasonably be expected to constitute an Acquisition Proposal;
(iii) accept, approve, endorse or recommend, or publicly propose to accept, approve, endorse or recommend any Acquisition Proposal, or take no position or remain neutral with respect to, any public Acquisition Proposal; or
(iv) accept, approve, endorse, recommend or execute or enter into or publicly propose to accept, approve, endorse, recommend or execute or enter into any agreement, letter of intent, understanding or arrangement relating to an Acquisition Proposal.
(b) immediately cease and terminate, and cause to be terminated, any solicitation, encouragement, discussion, negotiation, or other activities commenced prior to the date of this Agreement with any Person (other than any Purchaser Party or Purchaser Party Representative) with respect to any Acquisition Proposal; and
(c) immediately notify the Purchaser and the Company, at first orally, and then promptly and in any event within 24 hours in writing, of any Acquisition Proposal, and shall provide the Purchaser and the Company with copies of all written documents, correspondence or other material received by the Shareholder, its affiliates or its, his, or her Representatives in respect of, from or on behalf of any such Person in connection therewith and if not in writing or electronic form, a description of the material terms of such correspondence sent or communicated to the Shareholder, its affiliates or its, his, or her Representatives.
Non-Solicitation and Non-Compete The Executive agrees that:
(i) except as agreed by the Board, during the term hereof, the Executive will not, directly or indirectly, either as a principal, agent, employee, employer, stockholder, co-partner or in any other capacity whatsoever, engage in any outside activity, whether or not competitive with the business of the Company, that could foreseeably give rise to a conflict of interest or otherwise interfere with his duties and obligations to the Company;
(ii) during the term hereof and for twelve (12) months after the term, the Executive will not, directly or indirectly, either as a principal, agent, employee, employer, stockholder, co-partner or in any other capacity whatsoever, solicit, hire or attempt to hire, or assist others in soliciting, hiring or attempting to hire, any individual employed by the Company at any time while the Executive was also so employed, or encourage any such individual to terminate his or her relationship with the Company; provided, however, that nothing in this Section 6(g) shall be deemed to prohibit Executive from: (A) making general solicitations of employment published in newspapers, trade journals or other publications of general circulation; or (B) employing individuals who have terminated their employment with the Company;
(iii) during the term hereof and for twelve (12) months after the term, the Executive will not, directly or indirectly, either as a principal, agent, employee, employer, stockholder, co-partner or in any other capacity whatsoever, engage in or undertake any planning for any activity which is competitive with the business of the Company, as conducted or under consideration at any time during his employment by the Company; provided that (A) an ownership interest by Executive of one percent (1%) or less in any outstanding equity securities of any company which is competitive with the business of the Company whose equity securities are listed on a national securities exchange, national or capital markets or traded in the over-the-counter bulletin board or (B) Executive’s employment by or otherwise association with a business or entity of which a subsidiary, division, segment, unit, etc. is in material direct competition with the Company or any parent corporation or subsidiary of the Company but as to which such subsidiary, division, segment, unit, etc. the Executive has no direct or indirect responsibility or involvement, so long as the Executive does not breach the confidentiality obligations hereunder, shall not be prohibited and shall not constitute activity which is competitive with the business of the Company.
Non-Solicitation and Non-Competition Executive and the Company agree that the Company would suffer irreparable harm and incur substantial damage if Executive were to enter into Competition (as defined herein) with the Company. Therefore, in order for the Company to protect its legitimate business interests, Executive agrees as follows:
(i) Without the prior written consent of the Company, Executive shall not, during the period of employment with the Company, directly or indirectly, invest or engage in any business that is Competitive (as defined herein) with the Business of the Company or accept employment or render services to a Competitor (as defined herein) of the Company as a director, officer, agent, employee or consultant or solicit or attempt to solicit or accept business that is Competitive with the Business of the Company, except that Executive may own up to five percent (5%) of any outstanding class of securities of any company registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; provided, however, the Company acknowledges that Executive currently engages in a number of activities set forth on Exhibit B as long as such permitted activities do not have a material adverse effect on the Executive’s performance or this Agreement.
(ii) Without the prior written consent of the Company and upon any termination of Executive’s employment with the Company and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter, Executive shall not, either directly or indirectly, (x) invest or engage in any business that is Competitive (as defined herein) with the Business of the Company, except that Executive may own up to five percent (5%) of any outstanding class of securities of any company registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (y) accept employment with or render services to a Competitor of the Company as a director, officer, agent, employee or consultant unless he is serving in a capacity that has no relationship to that portion of the Competitor’s business that is Competitive with the Business of the Company, or (z) solicit, attempt to solicit or accept business Competitive with the Business of the Company from any of the customers of the Company at the time of his termination or within twelve (12) months prior thereto or from any person or entity whose business the Company was soliciting at such time.
(iii) Upon termination of his employment with the Company, and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter, Executive shall not, either directly or indirectly, engage, hire, employ or solicit in any manner whatsoever the employment of an employee of the Company.
(iv) For purposes of this Agreement, a business or activity is in “Competition” or “Competitive” with the Business of the Company if it involves, and a person or entity is a “Competitor”, if that person or entity is engaged in, or about to become engaged in, the research, development, design, manufacturing, marketing or selling of a specific product or technology that resembles, competes, or is designed to compete, with, or has applications similar to any product or technology for which the Company has obtained or applied for a patent or made disclosures, or any product or technology involving any other proprietary research or development engaged in or conducted by the Company during the Term of Executive’s employment with the Company.
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation As an essential ingredient of, and in consideration of the substantial severance benefits provided pursuant to this Agreement in addition to the Executive’s employment, or continued employment, with the Employer, the Executive shall not, during the Restricted Period, directly or indirectly do any of the following:
(i) Engage or invest in, own, manage, operate, finance, control, participate in the ownership, management, operation, or control of, be employed by, associated with, or in any manner connected with, serve as a director, officer, or consultant to, lend the Executive’s name or any similar name to, lend the Executive’s credit to or render services or advice to, any Financial Institution with an office located, or to be located at an address identified in a filing with any regulatory authority, within the Restricted Area; provided, however, that the ownership by the Executive of shares of the capital stock of any Financial Institution, which shares are listed on a securities exchange and that do not represent more than 1% of the institution’s outstanding capital stock, shall not violate any terms of this Agreement. For purposes of clarification and not limitation or expansion, it is the parties intent that the foregoing is not intended to limit Executive from performing services outside of the Restricted Area for a person or entity solely because the person or entity has a location within the Restricted Area, unless Executive’s services are directed towards activities on behalf of such person or entity within the Restricted Area;
(ii) (A) Hire, or induce or attempt to induce any employee of the Employer or its Affiliates (limited to all officer-level employees, Executive’s direct reports, or members of Executive’s department or area of responsibility) to leave the employ of the Employer or its Affiliates; (B) interfere with the relationship between the Employer or its Affiliates and any such employee of the Employer or its Affiliates; or (C) induce or attempt to induce any customer, supplier, licensee, or other business relation of the Employer or its Affiliates with whom the Executive had an ongoing business relationship while employed by the Employer or its Affiliates to cease doing business with the Employer or its Affiliates or interfere with the relationship between the Employer its Affiliates and their respective customers, suppliers, licensees, or other business relations with whom the Executive had an ongoing business relationship.
(iii) Solicit the business of any person or entity known to the Executive to be a customer of the Employer or its Affiliates, where the Executive, or any person reporting to the Executive, had accessed Confidential Information of, had an ongoing business relationship with while employed by the Employer of its Affiliates, or had made Substantial Business Efforts with respect to, such person or entity, with respect to products, activities, or services that compete in whole or in part with the products, activities, or services of the Employer its Affiliates.