| (a) Confidentiality of Proprietary Information.Consultant is not obligated to receive Proprietary Information (as defined below), however Consultant understands and agrees that all Proprietary Information shall be the sole property of the Company and its assigns, including all trade secrets, patents, copyrights and other rights in connection therewith. Consultant will hold in confidence and not directly or indirectly use or disclose to any third parties, both during Consultant’s consulting relationship with the Company and for a period of three (3) years after its termination (irrespective of the reason for such termination), any Proprietary Information Consultant obtains or creates during Consultant’s consulting relationship, except to the extent authorized by the Company, or until such Proprietary Information becomes generally known. Third parties include any foreign or domestic patent office. Consultant agrees not to make copies of such Proprietary Information except as authorized by the Company. Upon termination of Consultant’s consulting relationship or upon an earlier request of the Company, Consultant will return or deliver to the Company all tangible forms of such Proprietary Information in Consultant’s possession or control, including but not limited to drawings, specifications, documents, records, devices, models or any other material and copies or reproductions thereof. As used in this Agreement, the term “Proprietary Information” means information or physical material not generally known or available outside the Company or information or physical material entrusted to the Company by third parties. This includes, but is not limited to, inventions, confidential knowledge, copyrights, product ideas, techniques, processes, formulas, object codes, mask works and/or any other information of any type relating to documentation, data, schematics, algorithms, flow charts, mechanisms, research, manufacture, improvements, assembly, installation, marketing, forecasts, sales, pricing, customers, the salaries, duties, qualifications, performance levels and terms of compensation of other employees, and/or cost or other financial data concerning any of the foregoing or the Company and its operations. Proprietary Information may be contained in material such as drawings, samples, procedures, specifications, reports, studies, customer or supplier lists, budgets, cost or price lists, compilations or computer programs, or may be unwritten knowledge or know-how. |