Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Section 7(a) shall prohibit the Executive from, after the end of his employment, becoming an employee at a company which owns, operates or maintains advanced manufacturing capabilities, including the design and sale of manufacturing equipment, and such other employment opportunities as may be approved by the Board at its sole discretion.
(b) During the Executive’s employment with the Company and for six (6) months after termination of the Executive’s employment with the Company, the Executive will not directly or indirectly, on behalf of himself or in conjunction with any other person or entity:
i. solicit business from any customer or prospective customer of the Company with whom the Executive had material contact during the last twenty-four (24) months of employment, if the products or services that customer intends to purchase are similar to products or services offered by the Company;
ii. solicit any employee or independent contractor of the Company who worked for the Company during the six (6) months preceding termination of the Executive’s employment to work for the Executive or the Executive’s new employer.
8. Ownership of Inventions.
(a) Assignment of Inventions. The Executive agrees that all right, title, and interest in and to any and all original works of authorship, copyrightable material, concepts, notes, records, drawings, designs, inventions, improvements, developments, discoveries, methods, trademarks, trade names, trade secrets and software (whether or not patentable or registrable under copyright, trademark or similar laws) conceived, discovered, authored, invented, developed or reduced to practice by the Executive, solely or in collaboration with others, during the period of his employment with the Company and related to the business of the Company, or with the use of the Company’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or Company Confidential Information and any and all copyrights, patents, trade secrets, or other intellectual property rights (and related goodwill) relating to the foregoing (collectively, “Inventions”) shall be the sole and exclusive property of the Company. The Executive agrees to promptly make full written disclosure to the Company of any Inventions and to deliver and irrevocably assign fully to the Company all of the Executive’s title and interest in and to all Inventions. The Executive agrees that this assignment of Inventions includes a present conveyance to the Company of ownership of Inventions that are not yet in existence.
(b) Work Made for Hire. The Executive acknowledges that, by reason of being employed by the Company, all of the Inventions are, to the extent permitted by law, “work made for hire” as that term is defined in the United States Copyright Act and are the property of the Company. To the extent that any Inventions are not “work made for hire,” the Executive hereby irrevocably assigns to the Company, for no additional consideration, his entire right, title and interest in and to all Inventions therein. The Executive understands and agrees that the decision whether or not to commercialize or market any Inventions is within the Company’s sole discretion and for the Company’s sole benefit, and that no royalty or other consideration will be due to the Executive as a result of the Company’s efforts to commercialize or market any such Inventions.
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