3.2Confidentiality. Except as Participant reasonably and in good faith determines to be required in the faithful performance of Participant’s duties for the Company Group or in accordance withSection 3.4, Participant shall, during the Participant’s period of service with the Company Group and after the Cessation Date, maintain in confidence and shall not directly or indirectly, use, disseminate, disclose or publish, for Participant’s benefit or the benefit of any other Person, any confidential or proprietary information or trade secrets of or relating to the Company Group, including, without limitation, information with respect to the Company Group’s operations, processes, protocols, products, inventions, business practices, finances, principals, vendors, suppliers, customers, potential customers, marketing methods, costs, prices, contractual relationships, regulatory status, compensation paid to employees or other terms of employment (“Proprietary Information”), or deliver to any Person, any document, record, notebook, computer program or similar repository of or containing any such Proprietary Information. Participant’s obligation to maintain and not use, disseminate, disclose or publish, or use for Participant’s benefit or the benefit of any other Person, any Proprietary Information after the Cessation Date will continue so long as such Proprietary Information is not, or has not by legitimate means become, generally known and in the public domain (other than by means of Participant’s direct or indirect disclosure of such Proprietary Information) and continues to be maintained as Proprietary Information by the Company Group. The parties hereby stipulate and agree that as between them, the Proprietary Information identified herein is important, material and affects the successful conduct of the businesses of the Company Group (and any successor or assignee of the Company Group). In accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1833, the Company hereby notifies Participant that, notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, (a) Participant shall not be in breach of this Section 3.2 and shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law (i) for the disclosure of a trade secret that is made in confidence to a federal, state or local government official or to an attorney solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law, or (ii) for the disclosure of a trade secret that is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal, and (b) if Participant files a lawsuit for retaliation by the Company Group for reporting a suspected violation of law, Participant may disclose a trade secret to Participant’s attorney, and may use trade secret information in the court proceeding, if Participant files any document containing the trade secret under seal, and does not disclose the trade secret, except pursuant to court order.
3.3Return of Company Group Property. Upon Participant’s Termination of Service for any reason, Participant will promptly deliver to the Company Group (i) all correspondence, drawings, manuals, letters, notes, notebooks, reports, programs, plans, proposals, financial documents, or any other documents that are Proprietary Information, including all physical and digital copies thereof, and (ii) all other Company Group property (including, without limitation, any personal computer or wireless device and related accessories, keys, credit cards and other similar items) which is in his or her possession, custody or control.
3.4Response to Subpoena; Whistleblower Protection. Participant may respond to a lawful and valid subpoena or other legal process but shall give the Company Group the earliest possible notice thereof, and shall, as much in advance of the return date as possible, make available to the Company Group and its counsel the documents and other information sought, and shall assist such counsel in resisting or otherwise responding to such process. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, no provision of this Agreement shall be interpreted so as to impede Participant (or any other individual) from reporting possible violations of federal law or regulation to any governmental agency or entity, including but not limited to the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Congress, and any agency Inspector General, or making other disclosures under the whistleblower provisions of federal law or regulation. Participant does not need the prior authorization of the Company Group to make any such reports or disclosures and Participant shall not be not required to notify the Company Group that such reports or disclosures have been made.
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