Event, any action required or permitted to be taken by the stockholders of the Company must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of such holders and may not be effected by any consent in writing by such holders; provided, however, that any action required or permitted to be taken by the holders of Preferred Stock, voting separately as a series or separately as a class with one or more other such series, may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, to the extent expressly so provided by the applicable certificate of designation relating to such series of Preferred Stock.
(b) Except as otherwise required by law and subject to the rights of the holders of any series of Preferred Stock, special meetings of the stockholders of the Company for any purpose or purposes may only be called in the manner provided in the Bylaws.
(c) An annual meeting of stockholders for the election of directors to succeed those whose terms expire and for the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting, shall be held at such place, if any, on such date, and at such time as shall be fixed in the manner provided in the Bylaws.
ARTICLE IX
COMPETITION AND CORPORATE OPPORTUNITIES
(a) In recognition and anticipation that (i) certain directors, principals, members, officers, associated funds, employees and/or other representatives of the Investor and its Affiliates (as defined below) may serve as directors, officers or agents of the Company, (ii) the Investor and its Affiliates may now engage and may continue to engage in the same or similar activities or related lines of business as those in which the Company, directly or indirectly, may engage and/or other business activities that overlap with or compete with those in which the Company, directly or indirectly, may engage, and (iii) members of the Board who are not employees of the Company (“Non-Employee Directors”) and their respective Affiliates may now engage and may continue to engage in the same or similar activities or related lines of business as those in which the Company, directly or indirectly, may engage and/or other business activities that overlap with or compete with those in which the Company, directly or indirectly, may engage, the provisions of this Article IX are set forth to regulate and define the conduct of certain affairs of the Company with respect to certain classes or categories of business opportunities as they may involve the Investor, the Non-Employee Directors or their respective Affiliates and the powers, rights, duties and liabilities of the Company and its directors, officers and stockholders in connection therewith.
(b) None of (i) the Investor or any of its Affiliates or (ii) any Non-Employee Director (including any Non-Employee Director who serves as an officer of the Company in both his or her director and officer capacities) or his or her Affiliates (the Persons (as defined below) identified in (i) and (ii) above being referred to, collectively, as “Identified Persons” and, individually, as an “Identified Person”) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, have any duty to refrain from directly or indirectly (1) engaging in the same or similar business activities or lines of business in which the Company or any of its Affiliates now engages or proposes to engage or (2) otherwise competing with the Company or any of its Affiliates, and, to the fullest extent permitted by law, no Identified Person shall be
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