In carrying out the Company’s business, Covered Parties may learn confidential or proprietary information about the Company, its affiliates or other parties with which the Company has interacted. Confidential or proprietary information includes all non-public information relating to the Company, or other companies, that would be harmful to the relevant company or useful or helpful to competitors if disclosed.
Covered Parties must maintain the confidentiality of all information so entrusted to them, except when disclosure is authorized or legally mandated.
Each Covered Party should endeavor to deal fairly with the Company’s service providers, competitors and employees. No Covered Party may take unfair advantage of anyone through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, misrepresentation of material facts, or any unfair dealing practice.
IX. | Protection and Proper Use of Company Assets |
All Covered Parties should protect the Company’s assets and ensure their efficient use. Theft, carelessness and waste have a direct impact on the Company’s profitability. All Company assets should be used for legitimate business purposes. The obligation of employees to protect the Company’s assets includes its proprietary information. Proprietary information includes intellectual property such as trade secrets, patents, trademarks and copyrights, as well as business, marketing and service plans, designs, databases, records, salary information and any unpublished financial data and reports.
Before an employee, or an immediate family member of any such employee, engages in any activity that would be otherwise prohibited by the Code, he or she is strongly encouraged to obtain a written waiver from the Board or other appropriate officer or body.
Before a director or executive officer, or an immediate family member of a director or executive officer, engages in any activity that would be otherwise prohibited by the Code, he or she must obtain a written waiver from the disinterested directors of the Board. Such waiver must then be disclosed to the Company’s shareholders, along with the reasons for granting the waiver.
The Code is a statement of certain fundamental principles, policies and procedures that govern the Company’s Covered Parties in the conduct of the Company’s business. It is not intended to and does not create any rights in any employee, customer, client, visitor, supplier, competitor, shareholder or any other person or entity. It is the Company’s belief that the policy is robust and covers most conceivable situations.
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