immediately, and the Company shall owe Consultant only the amount of Consultant’s fees earned as of the date of such termination.
4.4Effect of Termination. Upon termination or expiration of this Agreement, Consultant shall immediately surrender to the Company all lists, books, records, materials and documents, together with all copies thereof, and all other property in Consultant’s possession or under Consultant’s control, relating to or used in connection with the past or present business of the Company, or any affiliate or subsidiary of the Company. Consultant acknowledges and agrees that all such lists, books, records, materials and documents, including, but not limited to, compilations or collections of suppliers’, contractors’, employees’ and customers’ names and addresses, are the sole and exclusive property of the Company.
5.Nondisclosure; Ownership and Protection of Proprietary Rights; Noncompetition and Nonsolicitation.
5.1Nondisclosure. Consultant understands and agrees that, in the course of Consultant’s relationship with the Company, Consultant may acquire confidential information and trade secrets concerning the Company’s operations, future plans, methods of doing business, marketing, costs, and that it would be extremely damaging to the Company if such information were disclosed or made available to any other Person. In view of the nature of the consulting relationship with the Company contemplated herein, Consultant agrees that, during the term of this Agreement and thereafter, any and all confidential information, including, without limitation, any customer lists, customer information or addresses, trade secrets, information relating to governmental relations, discoveries, practices, processes, methods or products, whether patentable or not, concerning the business of the Company or any confidential information concerning or relating to any former or existing suppliers, contractors, employees or customers of the Company or any Person is controlling, controlled by, under common control with or otherwise affiliated with the Company (collectively, the “Customers”), with respect to the past, present or future business of the Company, or any affiliate or subsidiary of the Company or any secret, proprietary or confidential information concerning or relating to the past, present or future business of the Company, or any affiliate or subsidiary of the Company (collectively, “Confidential Information”) that Consultant has acquired or may acquire from any such corporation or business entity or the Company, shall be maintained by Consultant in confidence and shall not be disclosed or divulged to any third party without the prior written consent of the Executive Officer. Consultant further agrees that Consultant will not utilize such Confidential Information on Consultant’s own behalf or on behalf of others at any time during the term of this Agreement or thereafter. Consultant agrees that he will not divert or attempt to divert any of the customers or do any act to impair, prejudice or destroy the goodwill of the Company with the Customers.
5.2Ownership of Intellectual Property. Consultant acknowledges and agrees that all intellectual property (including without limitation all ideas, concepts, inventions, plans, developments, software, data, configurations, materials (whether written or machine-readable), designs, drawings, illustrations and photographs, which may be protectable, in whole or in part, under any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property law), developed, created, conceived, made or reduced to practice during the term of this Agreement which (a) relate to the current, future or potential business of the Company, (b) result from the
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duties or work performed by Consultant hereunder, or (c) are developed during working time or using the Company’s equipment, supplies, facilities, resources, materials or information, shall be the sole and exclusive property of the Company and Consultant shall and hereby does assign all right, title and interest in and to such intellectual property to the Company.
5.3Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Covenants.
5.3.1 Subject toSection 5.3.6, during the Term, Consultant shall not (directly or indirectly) (i) own any interest in, manage, control, participate in (whether as an officer, director, employee, partner, agent, consultant, representative, or otherwise), (ii) render services to any Person or (iii) in any manner engage in any activity or enterprise, in either case, competing with the business of leasing or selling containers, trailers and mobile office units (the “Business”) in any location in the United States of America or the United Kingdom (“Restricted Territory”);provided,however, that nothing herein shall prohibit Consultant from being a beneficial owner of not more than five percent (5%) of the outstanding stock of any class of an entity which is publicly traded.
5.3.2 During the Term, Consultant shall not (directly or indirectly) do any of the following: (i) solicit the employment of or hire any employee of the Company or any of its subsidiaries that is employed as of the date of this Agreement (or any employee who was employed by the Company or any of its subsidiaries for any type of employment within the six-month period prior to the date of this Agreement unless such employee was terminated by the Company or its subsidiaries) without the prior written consent of the Parent,provided,however, that nothing herein shall prohibit Consultant from making general, non-targeted solicitation advertisements; (ii) call on, solicit, or service any supplier, licensee, licensor, or other business relation of the Company or any of its subsidiaries as of the date of this Agreement with respect to products or services related to the Business in order to influence or induce or attempt to influence or induce such Person to decrease or cease doing business with the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (iii) make any statement or do any act intended to cause customers of the Company or any of its subsidiaries as of the date of this Agreement to make use of the services or purchase the products of any business that competes with the Business.
5.3.3 Consultant acknowledges and agrees that: (1) the Business has been and shall be conducted in the Restricted Territory; (2) as applicable, Consultant’s (A) knowledge of the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ operations and the Business, (B) rendering of services in the Business as a director, officer, employee or consultant of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, (C) financial resources and (D) customer contacts in the Business would permit Consultant, but for the non-compete, non-solicitation and confidentiality covenants in this Agreement, to unfairly compete with the Business; and (3) the geographical restrictions and the length of the non-competition and non-solicitation periods are reasonable and narrowly drawn to impose no greater restraint than is necessary to protect the goodwill of the Company and its subsidiaries.
5.3.4. Each of the Parent, the Company and Consultant intends that the covenants of thisSection 5 shall be deemed to be a series of separate covenants, one for each county or province of each and every state, territory or jurisdiction of each country within
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any geographical area in the Restricted Territory, and one for each month of the time periods covered by such covenants.
5.3.5. Consultant agrees that in the event a court of competent jurisdiction declares, by way of a final non-appealable order, that there has been a breach by Consultant of thisSection 5, the term of any such term or covenant so breached shall be automatically extended for Consultant for the period of time of the violation from the date on which such breach ceases or from the date of the entry by such court of competent jurisdiction of such order, whichever is later.
5.3.6 Notwithstanding the foregoing, the covenants contained inSection 5.3.1,Section 5.3.2(ii) andSection 5.3.2(iii) of the Agreement shall not prevent Consultant from acquiring and operating a business that competes with the Business so long as the activities of such entity that compete with the Business generate and comprise less than twenty percent (20%) of the total annual revenues of such entity for the most recent fiscal year of such entity.
5.4Survival. Subject to the following provisions, the provisions of this Section 5 shall survive the termination of this Agreement, irrespective of the reason therefor.
6.Relief. Consultant acknowledges that (a) the services to be rendered by him are of a special, unique and extraordinary character and it would be very difficult or impossible to replace such services, (b) the provisions ofSection 5 are reasonable and necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the Company, (c) the restrictions contained inSection 5 will not prevent Consultant from earning or seeking a livelihood, (d) the restrictions contained inSection 5 shall apply in all areas where such application is permitted by law and (e) any violation of this Agreement by Consultant would result in irreparable harm to the Company. Accordingly, Consultant consents and agrees that, if Consultant violates any of the provisions of this Agreement, the Company shall be entitled to, in addition to other remedies available to it, an injunction to be issued by any court of competent jurisdiction restraining him from committing or continuing any violation of this Agreement, without the need to post any bond or for any other undertaking, including, without limitation, proving the inadequacy of money damages.
In the event that the whole or any part of the provisions ofSection 5 hereof shall be determined to be invalid by reason of the extent, duration, scope or other provision set forth therein, the extent, duration, scope or other provision of that section shall be reduced so as to cure such invalidity and in its reduced form the provisions ofSection 5 shall be enforceable in the manner contemplated hereby. The provisions of thisSection 6 shall survive the termination of this Agreement, irrespective of the reason therefor.
7.Miscellaneous.
7.1Waiver of Breach. Neither party’s failure to enforce any provision or provisions of this Agreement shall be deemed or in any way construed as a waiver of any such provision or provisions, nor prevent that party thereafter from enforcing each and every provision of this Agreement. The rights granted the parties herein are cumulative and shall not
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constitute a waiver of any party’s right to assert all other legal remedies available to it under the circumstances.
7.2Successors; Assigns. The Company shall not assign its rights and obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of Consultant; provided, however, that the Company shall be entitled to assign its rights hereunder to any acquirer, affiliate or successor to the Company without the prior written consent of Consultant. Consultant shall not assign any of his rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of the Executive Officer. Subject to the foregoing, the provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, legal representatives, executors, successors and assigns of Consultant and the Company.
7.3Notices. All notices and other communications which are required or permitted to be given under this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed to be sufficiently given (a) if delivered personally, upon delivery and (b) if delivered by registered or certified mail (return receipt requested), postage prepaid, upon the earlier of actual delivery or upon three (3) days after being mailed, in each case to Consultant or the Company at the address set forth at the beginning of this Agreement. Either party may, by notice given hereunder, designate any further or different address to which subsequent notices or other communications shall be sent.
7.4Severability. If any term or provision of this Agreement is held to be void or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, only that objectionable term or provision shall be deleted herefrom while the remainder of the term, provision and agreement shall be enforceable.
7.5Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California without regard to conflicts of laws principles.
7.6Agreement to Arbitrate.
7.6.1 Except for the remedies available to the Company pursuant toSection 6 hereof, any controversy, dispute or claim under, arising out of, in connection with or in relation to this Agreement, including but not limited to the negotiation, execution, interpretation, construction, coverage, scope, performance, nonperformance, breach, termination, validity or enforceability of this Agreement or any alleged fraud in connection therewith or thisSection 7.6, shall be settled, at the request of either party, by arbitration conducted in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules or then existing rules for commercial arbitration of the American Arbitration Association before a single arbitrator. The arbitration of such issues, including the determination of any amount of damages suffered by any party hereto by reason of the acts or omissions of any party, shall be binding upon the parties after confirmation of the award by a court of competent jurisdiction;provided,however, that the parties may attack or appeal any arbitration award in accordance with applicable law. The parties intend that thisSection 7.6 shall be valid, binding, enforceable and irrevocable and shall survive the termination of this Agreement.
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7.6.2 Any arbitration proceedings hereunder shall be held in Los Angeles, California.
7.6.3 Judgment upon any award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered by any court having jurisdiction thereof.
7.6.4 The prevailing party shall be entitled to an award of its costs, attorneys’ and other fees and other expenses as part of the arbitrator’s award in connection with each arbitration, and the non-prevailing party shall bear the costs, fees and expenses incurred by and payable to the arbitrator and court reporter.
7.7Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed simultaneously in two (2) or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original, but all of which together shall constitute one (1) and the same instrument. Facsimiles of signatures may be taken as the actual signatures, and each party agrees to furnish the other with documents bearing the original signatures within ten (10) days of the facsimile transmission.
7.8Complete Agreement; Amendments. This Agreement contains the entire understanding between the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes any prior agreements and understandings relating thereto. This Agreement may not be waived, changed, modified, extended or discharged orally, but only by a written instrument signed by the party against whom enforcement of any waiver, change, modification, extension or discharge is sought.
7.9Parties Not Bound. The parties to this Agreement agree and acknowledge that Consultant currently is (i) the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of General Finance Corporation, a publicly traded Delaware corporation (“General Finance”), and (ii) the beneficial owner of approximately 15% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of General Finance. The parties further agree that nothing in this Agreement is intended to, or shall, limit or in any manner affect Consultant’s obligations as an officer or director of General Finance or his duties to General Finance. For the avoidance of doubt, notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement, this Agreement (x) shall have no binding effect upon, and shall not be enforceable against, General Finance and (y) shall not restrict Consultant’s activities as an officer or director or General Finance.
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[CONSULTING AGREEMENT SIGNATURE PAGE]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have duly executed this Agreement on the day and year first above written.
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| Mobile Storage Group, Inc. |
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| | 
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| | Ronald F. Valcnta |
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