subject to Section 8(e), you shall first give notice to the Employer and reasonably cooperate with the Employer to obtain a protective order or other measures preserving the confidential treatment of such Confidential Information and requiring that the information or documents so disclosed be used only for the purposes for which the order was issued or is otherwise required by applicable law. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Section 8(b) shall prevent you from exercising any legally protected whistleblower rights (including under Rule 21F under the Exchange Act).
(c) Disposition of Confidential Information. Following your Termination of Service or upon the Company’s request, you will return to the Company all copies of any and all Confidential Information in your custody, possession or control (including all copies of any analyses, compilations, studies or other documents prepared by you or for your use containing or reflecting any Confidential Information). Alternatively, with the Company’s prior written consent, you may destroy such Confidential Information. Within five (5) business days of your Termination of Service or such request by the Company, you shall deliver to the Company a document certifying that such written Confidential Information has been returned or destroyed in accordance with this Section 8(c).
(d) Confidential Information. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Confidential Information” shall mean any and all non-public, proprietary or other confidential information of the Company or its affiliates disclosed to you, to which you have access, or of which you otherwise become aware, in each case whether in oral, written, graphic or machine readable form, including, without limitation, (i) know-how, trade secrets, inventions, discoveries, concepts, information, works, materials, processes, methods, data, software, programs, apparatus, designs and the like, and any other intellectual property the value of which is contingent upon maintaining the confidentiality thereof, (ii) information regarding the business of the Company or its affiliates, including its products, services, budgets, contracts, reports, investigations, experiments, research, work in progress, drawings, designs, plans, proposals, codes, marketing and sales programs, client lists, client mailing lists, supplier lists, financial projections, cost summaries, pricing formulae, marketing studies relating to prospective business opportunities, and all other concepts, ideas, materials, or information prepared or performed for or by the Company or its affiliates, (iii) information regarding the skills and compensation of the employees, contractors, and any other service providers of the Company or its affiliates, (iv) the existence of any business discussions, negotiations, or agreements between the Company or its affiliates and any third party, (v) all documents and other work product generated by you which contain, comment upon, or relate in any way to any information disclosed by the Company or its affiliates, (vi) all third-party information held in confidence by the Company or its affiliates, and (vii) the terms and conditions of this Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, the Confidential Information shall not include and your obligation shall not extend to (i) information which is generally available to the public and (ii) information obtained by you other than pursuant to or in connection with your employment.
(e) Defend Trade Secrets Act. Pursuant to Section 7 of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (which added 18 U.S.C. § 1833(b)), you and the Company acknowledge and agree that you shall not have criminal or civil liability 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 in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal. In addition, and