| | shall not use or disclose, except on behalf of the Company and pursuant to the Company’s directions, any Company Confidential Information or Trade Secrets. Confidential Information and Trade Secrets are items of information relating to the Company, its products, services, customers, and employees that are of great competitive value to the Company, which have been or will be disclosed to you or of which you have or will become aware as a consequence of your relationship with the Company, which are not generally known or available to the general public or the Company’s competitors, and which have been developed, compiled, or acquired by the Company at its great effort and expense. “Confidential Information” includes, but is not limited to: (a) financial and business information, such as information with respect to costs, commissions, fees, profits, sales, sales margins, capital structure, operating results, borrowing arrangements, strategies and plans for future business, pending projects and proposals, and potential acquisitions or divestitures; (b) product and technical information, such as new and innovative ideas, research and development projects, investigations, new business development, trademarks and brand names under development, sketches, plans, drawings, prototypes, methods, procedures, experimental and testing results, devices, machines, equipment, data processing programs, software, software codes, and computer models; (c) marketing information, such as new marketing ideas, strategies, initiatives, business plans, markets, and mailing lists; (d) customer and prospective customer information, such as the identity of the Company’s customers and prospective customers, their names, the names of representatives of the Company’s customers and prospective customers responsible for entering into contracts with the Company, the financial arrangements between the Company and its customers, the existence and terms of contracts with customers or any future contracts with customers or prospective customers, specific needs, requirements, and preferences of customers, and leads and referrals to certain prospective customers; and (e) personnel information, such as the identity and number of the Company’s other employees, consultants and contractors, their salaries, bonuses, benefits, skills, qualifications, and abilities (information in this item (e) is referred to as “Personnel Information”). In addition, Confidential Information shall include combinations, compilations, or aggregations of individual facts, components, or units of information that are in whole or in part publicly known, unless such combination, compilation, or aggregation of those facts is itself publicly known. “Trade Secrets” are items of Confidential Information that meet the requirements of applicable trade secret law. Confidential Information and Trade Secrets can be in any form, including, without limitation, oral, written, or machine readable, including electronic files. |
| | (ii) Limited Use of Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing to the contrary, nothing in this Agreement prohibits Employee from filing a charge with or participating, testifying, or assisting in any investigation, hearing, whistleblowing proceeding, or other proceeding before any federal, state, or local government agency (e.g., EEOC, NLRB, SEC, etc.). In addition, under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, Employee shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law for the disclosure of a trade secret that: (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made to Employee’s attorney in relation to a lawsuit for retaliation against Employee for reporting a suspected violation of law; or (c) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal. |