(b) Beneficiary Designation. Upon receiving written permission from the Board or its duly authorized designee, you may, by delivering written notice to the Company in a form approved by the Company and any broker designated by the Company to handle option exercises, designate a third party who, after your death, will be entitled to exercise the option and receive the Common Stock or other consideration resulting from the exercise. In the absence of such a designation, in the event of your death, your executor or administrator of your estate will be entitled to exercise the option and receive, on behalf of your estate, the Common Stock or other consideration resulting from such exercise.
9. OPTION NOTA SERVICE CONTRACT. Your option is not an employment or service contract, and nothing in your option will be deemed to create in any way whatsoever any obligation on your part to continue in the service of the Company or an Affiliate, or of the Company or an Affiliate to continue your service. In addition, nothing in your option will obligate the Company or an Affiliate, their respective stockholders, boards of directors, officers or employees to continue any relationship that you might have as an Employee, Director or Consultant for the Company or an Affiliate.
10. WITHHOLDING OBLIGATIONS.
(a) At the time you exercise your option, in whole or in part, and at any time thereafter as requested by the Company, you hereby authorize withholding from payroll and any other amounts payable to you, and otherwise agree to make adequate provision for (including by means of a “same day sale” pursuant to a program developed under Regulation T as promulgated by the Federal Reserve Board), any sums required to satisfy the federal, state, local and foreign tax withholding obligations of the Company or an Affiliate, if any, which arise in connection with the exercise of your option.
(b) Upon your request and subject to approval by the Board or Committee, as applicable, and compliance with any applicable legal conditions or restrictions, the Company may withhold from fully vested shares of Common Stock otherwise issuable to you upon the exercise of your option a number of whole shares of Common Stock having a Fair Market Value, determined by the Company as of the date of exercise, not in excess of the maximum amount of tax required to be withheld by law (or such other amount as may be necessary to avoid classification of your option as a liability for financial accounting purposes). Any adverse consequences to you arising in connection with such share withholding procedure will be your sole responsibility.
(c) You may not exercise your option unless the tax withholding obligations of the Company and any Affiliate are satisfied. Accordingly, you may not be able to exercise your option when desired even though your option is vested, and the Company will have no obligation to issue a certificate for such shares of Common Stock or release such shares of Common Stock from any escrow provided for herein, if applicable, unless such obligations are satisfied.
11. TAX CONSEQUENCES. You hereby agree that the Company does not have a duty to design or administer the Plan or its other compensation programs in a manner that minimizes your tax liabilities. You will not make any claim against the Company, or any of its Officers, Directors, Employees or Affiliates related to tax liabilities arising from your option or your other compensation. In particular, you acknowledge that this option is exempt from Section 409A of the Code only if the exercise price per share specified in the Grant Notice is at least equal to the “fair market value” per share of the Common Stock on the Date of Grant and there is no other impermissible deferral of compensation associated with the option.
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