a. For purposes of this Agreement, “Cause” means (i) Employee’s conviction for a felony (under Federal law or the law of the state or foreign law in which such action occurred) committed against the Company; (ii) willful and material disclosure of trade secrets or Confidential Information; (iii) regularly reporting to work under the influence of alcohol or illegal drug which renders Employee incapable of performing his material duties to the satisfaction of the Company, or (iv) willful and material violation by Employee of the confidentiality provisions of the Agreement.
b. For purposes of this Agreement, “Termination Date” is the date as of which the Employee incurs a separation from service (within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 409A) from the Company. Any notice of termination of the Employee’s employment given by the Employee or the Company pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement shall specify the Termination Date.
(i) Amount of Severance Payment. Subject to the provisions of this Section 3, in addition to any Base Salary and unreimbursed expenses accrued but unpaid as of the Termination Date (which shall be paid in accordance with the customary payroll practices of the Company), the Company shall pay Employee (the “Severance Payment”) the following:
(A) payment of the full amount of Base Salary for the days remaining of the contract for the full ten (10) year period of the contract, paid in full on the six-month anniversary of the Termination Date;
(B) any bonus amount that would otherwise have been payable to Employee, payable on the next date on which a bonus amount would have otherwise been payable to Employee following the Termination Date, prorated through the Termination Date;
(C) grant Employee the option, for the thirty (30) days following the Termination Date, to sell to the Company up to 100% of the Employee’s common stock, stock options and warrants, at a per share price equal to the 10-day average closing price of CornerWorld’s common stock for the ten (10) trading days immediately preceding the date of Employee’s exercise of such option.
(D) any vacation pay accrued but unpaid as of the Termination Date, payable in a single lump sum payment on the Termination Date; and
(E) the lump sum payment of five million dollars ($5,000,000) paid in full on the six-month anniversary of the Termination Date.
4. Protection of Trade Secrets and Confidential Information.
a. Confidential Information. Employee understands and acknowledges that, by virtue of Employee’s position, Employee will acquire and/or will have access to knowledge of various confidential, trade secret and/or proprietary information of the Company and/or its clients (all of which is hereinafter referred to as “Confidential Information”). By way of illustration only, and not limitation, Confidential Information includes information regarding: (1) marketing, advertising, public relations and/or promotional strategies, programs, plans and methods; (2) pricing policies, methods and concepts, product and services strategies, training programs, and methods of operation and other business methods; (3) mailing lists and lists of and information relating to current, former and prospective clients and accounts of the Company; (4) terms of service contracts between the Company and its clients, accounts, vendors and/or suppliers; (5) business plans, expansion plans, management policies and other business policies and strategies; (6) business and sales forecasts, market analyses, costs, sales and revenue reports, budgets, other financial data which relates to the management and operation of the Company and its products and services, and other analyses not publicly disclosed; (7) competitors; (8) internally developed computer programs and software and specialized computer programs and source code; (9) internal procedures, programs, reports and forms of the Company; and (10) other confidential, trade secret and/or proprietary information that allows the Company to compete successfully.
b. Employee’s Use and Disclosure of Confidential Information. Except in connection with and in furtherance of Employee’s work on the Company’s behalf, Employee shall not, without the Company’s prior written consent, at any time, directly or indirectly, use, disclose or otherwise communicate any Confidential Information to any person or entity.
c. Records Containing Confidential Information. All documents or other records (in whatever medium recorded) containing Confidential Information (“Confidential Documents”) prepared by or provided to Employee are and shall remain the sole property of CornerWorld and/or the Company. Except with the Company’s prior written consent, Employee shall not copy or use any Confidential Document for any purpose not directly relating to Employee’s work on the Company’s behalf, or use, disclose or sell any Confidential Document to any person or entity other than the Company. Upon the termination of Employee’s employment relationship or association with the Company or upon the Company’s request, Employee shall immediately deliver to the Company or its designee (and shall not keep in Employee’s possession or deliver to anyone else) all Confidential Documents and all other property belonging to the Company. This paragraph shall not bar Employee from complying with any subpoena or court order, provided that Employee shall at the earliest practicable date provide a copy of the subpoena or court order to the Company’s General Counsel.
d. Ownership of Proprietary Property. To the greatest extent possible, any Work Product shall be deemed to be “work made for hire” (as defined in the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.A. § 101 et seq., as amended) and owned exclusively by the Company. Employee hereby unconditionally and irrevocably transfers and assigns to the Company all rights, title and interest Employee currently has or in the future may have, by operation of law or otherwise, in or to any Work Product, including, without limitation, all patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks and other intellectual property rights. Employee agrees to execute and deliver to the Company any transfers, assignments, documents or other instruments which the Company may deem necessary or appropriate to vest complete title and ownership of any Work Product, and all rights therein, exclusively in the Company.
e. Additional Acknowledgments of Employee. Employee acknowledges that a breach of any of the covenants contained in this Section 4 will cause irreparable damage to the Company, the exact amount of which will be difficult to ascertain, and that the remedies at law for any such breach will be inadequate. Accordingly, Employee agrees that if Employee breaches or threatens to breach any covenant contained in this Section 4, in addition to any other remedy that may be available at law or in equity, the Company shall be entitled to specific performance and injunctive relief.
5. Survival. Employee’s obligations under this Agreement shall survive the termination of Employee’s employment relationship or association with the Company and shall thereafter be enforceable whether or not such termination is later claimed or found to be wrongful or to constitute or result in a breach of any contract or any other duty owed or claimed to be owed by the Company to Employee.
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6. Notices. Employee also agrees and acknowledges that the Company has the right to independently contact any potential or actual future employer of Employee to notify such employer of Employee’s obligations under Section 4 of this Agreement and notify such actual or potential employer of the Company’s understanding of the requirements of this Agreement and what steps, if any, the Company intends to take to insure compliance with or enforcement of this Agreement.
7. Prior Disclosure. Employee represents and warrants that he has not used or disclosed any confidential information, trade secret, copyright or any other intellectual property he may have obtained from Company prior to signing this Agreement, in any way inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement.
8. Confidential Information of Prior Employers. Employee will not disclose or use during the period of his employment with the Company, any proprietary or confidential information, trade secret, copyright or any other intellectual property belonging to a previous employer or other third party which Employee may have acquired because of employment with an employer other than the Company or acquired from any other third party, whether such information is in Employee’s memory or embodied in a writing or other physical form.
9. Severability. Whenever possible, each provision of this Agreement will be interpreted in such manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision of this Agreement is held to be prohibited by or invalid under applicable law, such provision will be ineffective only to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity, without invalidating the remainder of such provisions or the remaining provisions of this Agreement.
10. Payment of Enforcement Costs. The Company shall be responsible for paying its own and the Employee’s attorneys fees, costs, and other expenses pertaining to Employee’s efforts to enforce this Agreement or his rights hereunder, regardless of whether any judgment or verdict is entered against the Employee. In addition, the Company shall promptly (and in no event later than ten (10) days following its receipt from the Employee of written request thereof) deposit $500,000 into an escrow account from which Employee may draw upon to pay reasonable attorneys fees (including any reasonable retainer), costs and other expenses pertaining to Employee’s efforts to enforce this Agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 10 shall survive termination or judicial reformation of this Agreement, and shall continue in force notwithstanding any judgment as to Employee’s likelihood of success.
11. Escrow of Costs to Defend Against Legal Claims. The Company shall promptly (and in no event later than (10) days) following receipt of notice of a claim filed against Employee seeking damages in excess of $50,000, the basis of which claim arises in whole or in part from Employee’s actions or omissions in his capacity as an employee, officer or director of the Company, deposit into escrow $500,000 from which Employee may draw upon to pay reasonable attorneys fees (including any reasonable retainer), costs and other expenses pertaining to Employee’s efforts to defend against such claim. Any amount remaining in escrow following a settlement or final and non-appealable judgment of such claim shall revert to the Company. This Section 11 shall survive until the date that is five (5) years following the last day of the statutory limitations period, if any, applicable to such claim, notwithstanding Employee’s termination of employment for any reason and/or termination of this Agreement.
12. Complete Agreement.This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement among the parties and supersedes all other prior agreements and understandings, both written and oral, with respect to the subject matter hereof.
13. Company Gross-Up Payment. In the event that any payment, benefit or distribution to or for the benefit of Employee (whether paid or payable or distributed or distributed pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, but without regard to any additional payments required under this Section 13) (the “Payments”) is determined to be an “excess parachute payment” pursuant to Code section 280G or any successor or substitute provision of the Code, with the effect that Employee is liable for the payment of the excise tax described in Code section 4999 or any successor or substitute provision of the Code (the “Excise Tax”), then the Company shall pay to Employee an additional amount (the “Gross-Up Amount”) such that the amount retained by Employee, after deduction of any Excise Tax on the Payments, and any federal, state and local income and employment taxes and Excise Tax on the Gross-Up Payment, shall be equal to the Payments.
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14. Code Section 409A. Notwithstanding any provision in this Agreement to the contrary, this Agreement is intended to be exempt from or, in the alternative, comply with Code section 409A and the interpretive guidance thereunder, including the exceptions for short-term deferrals, separation pay arrangements, reimbursements, and in-kind distributions. It is intended that this Agreement shall comply with the provisions of Code section 409A and the treasury regulations relating thereto so as not to subject Employee to the payment of interest and tax penalty which may be imposed under Code section 409A. This Agreement shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with such intent.
15. Counterparts.This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, all of which shall be considered one and the same agreement and each of which shall be deemed an original.
16. Successors and Assigns; Assignment. Employee expressly consents that CornerWorld may assign the rights and benefits given to it in this Agreement and this Agreement shall survive any sale of assets, merger, consolidation, or other change in corporate structure.
17. Choice of Law; Venue.This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law provision or rule that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Texas. The parties agree that all actions and proceedings relating to this Agreement shall be litigated in Dallas County, Texas.
18. Amendment and Waiver.This Agreement may not be changed or amended except in writing signed by the parties. The waiver by any party of any breach of any provision of this Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach of such provision or the breach of any other provision contained in this Agreement.
19. Headings.The headings contained in this Agreement are inserted for convenience only. They do not constitute a part of this Agreement and in no way define, limit or describe the intent of this Agreement or any provisions hereof.
20. Construction.This Agreement shall not be construed against any party by reason of the fact that the party may be responsible for the drafting of this Agreement or any provision hereof.
21. Knowledge of Rights and Duties. Employee has carefully reviewed and completely read all of the provisions of this Agreement and understands and has been advised that he may consult with counsel of his choice for any explanation of his rights, duties, obligations and responsibilities under this Agreement, should Employee so desire. Employee acknowledges that he/she enters into this Agreement of his own free will.
[Signature Page Follows]
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Employee and CornerWorld have executed this Agreement effective as of the day and year first above written.
CORNERWORLD CORPORATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
By: /s/ Marc Blumberg
Marc Blumberg
Director
By: /s/ Scott N. Beck
Scott N. Beck
An individual
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