(k) Exclusion of Shareholder Nominees. The Company shall not be required to include, pursuant to this Section 13, a Shareholder Nominee in its proxy materials for any meeting of Shareholders:
(i) if the Eligible Shareholder (or any member of any group of Shareholders that together is such Eligible Shareholder) who has nominated such Shareholder Nominee has engaged or is currently engaged in, or has been or is a “participant” in another person’s, “solicitation” within the meaning of Rule 14a-1(l) under the Exchange Act in support of the election of any individual as a Director at the Annual Meeting other than its Shareholder Nominee(s) or a nominee of the Board of Directors;
(ii) if the Shareholder Nominee is or becomes a party to any agreement, arrangement or understanding with any person or entity other than the Company with respect to any direct or indirect compensation, reimbursement or indemnification in connection with such Shareholder Nominee’s candidacy for Director of the Company or service or action as a Director of the Company;
(iii) who is not independent under the listing standards of the principal U.S. exchange upon which the common shares of the Company are listed, any applicable rules of the SEC and any publicly disclosed standards used by the Board of Directors in determining and disclosing independence of the Company’s directors, in each case as determined by the Board of Directors;
(iv) whose election as a member of the Board of Directors would cause the Company to be in violation of these Regulations, the Company’s articles of incorporation, as amended, the rules and listing standards of the principal U.S. exchange upon which the common shares of the Company are listed, or any applicable state or federal law, rule or regulation;
(v) who is or has been, within the past three years, an officer or director of a competitor, as defined in Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914;
(vi) who is a named subject of a pending criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations and other minor offenses) or has been convicted in such a criminal proceeding within the past 10 years;
(vii) if such Shareholder Nominee or the applicable Eligible Shareholder (or any member of any group of Shareholders that together is such Eligible Shareholder) provides information to the Company in respect of such nomination that was untrue in any material respect or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statement made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, as determined by the Board of Directors or any committee thereof; or
(viii) the Eligible Shareholder (or any member of any group of Shareholders that together is such Eligible Shareholder) or applicable Shareholder Nominee fails to comply with its obligations pursuant to this Section 13.
(l) Invalid and Disregarded Nominations. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth herein, the Board of Directors or the chairman of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders shall declare a nomination by an Eligible Shareholder to be invalid, and