9. Confidential Information; Non-Competition; Non-Solicitation.
(a) Confidential Information. The Company agrees to provide the Executive certain trade secrets, confidential information and knowledge or data relating to the Company and its Affiliates and their businesses during the Term of this Agreement. The Executive shall hold in a fiduciary capacity for the benefit of the Company and its Affiliates all trade secrets, confidential information, and knowledge or data relating to the Company and its Affiliates and their businesses, which shall have been obtained by the Executive during the Executive’s employment by the Company or an Affiliate (hereinafter being collectively referred to as “Confidential Information”). For the avoidance of doubt, Confidential Information shall not include information that:
(i) is already in the Executive’s possession; provided that the information is not known by the Executive to be subject to another confidentiality agreement with, or otherwise subject to an obligation of secrecy to, the Company or any of its Affiliates,
(ii) becomes generally available to the public other than as a result of acts by the Executive or representatives of the Executive in violation of this Agreement, or
(iii) becomes available to the Executive on a non-confidential basis from a source other than the Company or any of its Affiliates or any of their respective directors, managers, officers, employees, agents or advisors; provided, that such source is not known by the Executive to be bound by a confidentiality agreement with, or otherwise bound by an obligation of secrecy to, the Company or any of its Affiliates.
The Executive shall not, without the prior written consent of the Company or as may otherwise be required by law or legal process, other than in the good faith performance of his duties, communicate or divulge any such trade secrets, information, knowledge or data to anyone other than the Company and those designated by the Company. Any termination of the Executive’s employment or of this Agreement shall have no effect on the continuing operation of this Section 9(a). The Executive agrees to return all Confidential Information, including all photocopies, extracts and summaries thereof, and any such information stored electronically on tapes, computer disks or in any other manner to the Company at any time upon request by the Company and upon the termination of his employment hereunder for any reason.
Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Company hereby acknowledges and agrees that Executive may retain, as Executive’s own property, copies of Executive’s individual personnel documents, such as payroll and tax records, and similar personal records, Executive’s rolodex and Executive’s address book.
(b) Non-Competition. During the Employment Period and for the period of six (6) months following the Date of Termination, or if applicable, the Severance Period (the “Restricted Period”), the Executive shall not, without the prior written consent of the Company, directly or indirectly, for himself or for others, anywhere in the United States, as an owner, investor, partner, shareholder, agent, representative, employee, officer, director, consultant, contractor, lender or otherwise (except for owning an investment interest of less than two percent (2%) in a publicly-traded company), participate in any business engaged primarily in the retail
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