CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
OF
PEN-TAB INDUSTRIES, INC.
ARTICLE ONE
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The name of the corporation is Pen-Tab Industries, Inc. (hereinafter
called the "Corporation").
ARTICLE TWO
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The address of the Corporation's registered office in the state of
Delaware is 1013 Centre Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19805, in the City of
Wilmington, County of New Castle. The name of its registered agent at such
address is Corporation Service Company.
ARTICLE THREE
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The purpose of the Corporation is to engage in any lawful act or
activity for which corporations may be organized under the General Corporation
Law of Delaware.
ARTICLE FOUR
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The total number of shares which the Corporation shall have the
authority to issue is One Thousand (1,000) shares, all of which shall be shares
of Common Stock, with a par value of $0.01 (One Cent) per share.
ARTICLE FIVE
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The name and mailing address of the incorporator is as follows:
Name Address
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Laura-Jayne Urso c/o Kirkland & Ellis
153 East 53rd Street
39th Floor
New York, NY 10022
ARTICLE SIX
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The directors shall have the power to adopt, amend or repeal By-Laws,
except as may be otherwise be provided in the By-Laws.
ARTICLE SEVEN
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The Corporation expressly elects not to be governed by Section 203 of
the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware.
ARTICLE EIGHT
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Section 1. Nature of Indemnity. Each person who was or is made a
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party or is threatened to be made a party to or is involved in any action, suit
or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative
(hereinafter a "proceeding"), by reason of the fact that he (or a person of whom
he is the legal representative), is or was a director or officer of the
Corporation or is or was serving at the request of the Corporation as a
director, officer, employee, fiduciary, or agent of another corporation or of a
partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, including service with
respect to employee benefit plans, whether the basis of such proceeding is
alleged action in an official capacity as a director, officer, employee,
fiduciary or agent or in any other capacity while serving as a director,
officer, employee, fiduciary or agent, shall be indemnified and held harmless by
the Corporation to the fullest extent which it is empowered to do so by the
General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, as the same exists or may
hereafter be amended (but, in the case of any such amendment, only to the extent
that such amendment permits the Corporation to provide broader indemnification
rights than said law permitted the Corporation to provide prior to such
amendment) against all expense, liability and loss (including attorneys' fees
actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such
proceeding and such indemnification shall inure to the benefit of his or her
heirs, executors and administrators; provided, however, that, except as provided
in Section 2 of this Article Eight, the Corporation shall indemnify any such
person seeking indemnification in connection with a proceeding initiated by such
person only if such proceeding was authorized by the Board of Directors of the
Corporation. The right to indemnification conferred in this Article Eight shall
be a contract right and, subject to Sections 2 and 5 of this Article Eight,
shall include the right to payment by the Corporation of the expenses incurred
in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition. The
Corporation may, by action of the Board of Directors, provide indemnification to
employees and agents of the Corporation with the same scope and effect as the
foregoing indemnification of directors and officers.
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Section 2. Procedure for Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
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Any indemnification of a director or officer of the Corporation under Section 1
of this Article Eight or advance of expenses under Section 5 of this Article
Eight shall be made promptly, and in any event within 30 days, upon the written
request of the director or officer. If a determination by the Corporation that
the director or officer is entitled to indemnification pursuant to this Article
Eight is required, and the Corporation fails to respond within sixty days to a
written request for indemnity, the Corporation shall be deemed to have approved
the request. If the Corporation denies a written request for indemnification or
advancing of expenses, in whole or in part, or if payment in full pursuant to
such request is not made within 30 days, the right to indemnification or
advances as granted by this Article Eight shall be enforceable by the director
or officer in any court of competent jurisdiction. Such person's costs and
expenses incurred in connection with successfully establishing his right to
indemnification, in whole or in part, in any such action shall also be
indemnified by the Corporation. It shall be a defense to any such action (other
than an action brought to enforce a claim for expenses incurred in defending any
proceeding in advance of its final disposition where the required undertaking,
if any, has been tendered to the Corporation) that the claimant has not met the
standards of conduct which make it permissible under the General Corporation Law
of the State of Delaware for the Corporation to indemnify the claimant for the
amount claimed, but the burden of such defense shall be on the Corporation.
Neither the failure of the Corporation (including the Board of Directors,
independent legal counsel, or its stockholders) to have made a determination
prior to the commencement of such action that indemnification of the claimant is
proper in the circumstances because he or she has met the applicable standard of
conduct set forth in the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, nor
an actual determination by the Corporation (including its Board of Directors,
independent legal counsel, or its stockholders) that the claimant has not met
such applicable standard of conduct, shall be a defense to the action or create
a presumption that the claimant has not met the applicable standard of conduct.
Section 3. Nonexclusivity of Article Eight. The rights to
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indemnification and the payment of expenses incurred in defending a proceeding
in advance of its final disposition conferred in this Article Eight shall not be
exclusive of any other right which any person may have or hereafter acquire
under any statute, provision of the certificate of incorporation, by-law,
agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise.
Section 4. Insurance. The Corporation may purchase and maintain
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insurance on its own behalf and on behalf of any person who is or was a
director, officer, employee, fiduciary, or agent of the Corporation or was
serving at the request of the Corporation as a director, officer, employee or
agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other
enterprise against any liability asserted against him or her and
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incurred by him or her in any such capacity, whether or not the Corporation
would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under this
Article Eight.
Section 5. Expenses. Expenses incurred by any person described in
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Section 1 of this Article Eight in defending a proceeding shall be paid by the
Corporation in advance of such proceeding's final disposition unless otherwise
determined by the Board of Directors in the specific case upon receipt of an
undertaking by or on behalf of the director or officer to repay such amount if
it shall ultimately be determined that he is not entitled to be indemnified by
the Corporation. Such expenses incurred by other employees and agents may be so
paid upon such terms and conditions, if any, as the Board of Directors deems
appropriate.
Section 6. Employees and Agents. Persons who are not covered by the
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foregoing provisions of this Article Eight and who are or were employees or
agents of the Corporation, or who are or were serving at the request of the
Corporation as employees or agents of another corporation, partnership, joint
venture, trust or other enterprise, may be indemnified to the extent authorized
at any time or from time to time by the Board of Directors.
Section 7. Contract Rights. The provisions of this Article Eight
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shall be deemed to be a contract right between the Corporation and each director
or officer who serves in any such capacity at any time while this Article Eight
and the relevant provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of
Delaware or other applicable law are in effect, and any repeal or modification
of this Article Eight or any such law shall not affect any rights or obligations
then existing with respect to any state of facts or proceeding then existing.
Section 8. Merger or Consolidation. For purposes of this Article
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Eight, references to "the Corporation" shall include, in addition to the
resulting corporation, any constituent corporation (including any constituent of
a constituent) absorbed in a consolidation or merger which, if its separate
existence had continued, would have had power and authority to indemnify its
directors, officers, and employees or agents, so that any person who is or was a
director, officer, employee or agent of such constituent corporation, or is or
was serving at the request of such constituent corporation as a director,
officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture,
trust or other enterprise, shall stand in the same position under this Article
Eight with respect to the resulting or surviving corporation as he or she would
have with respect to such constituent corporation if its separate existence had
continued.
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ARTICLE NINE
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The Corporation reserves the right to amend or repeal any provisions
contained in this Certificate of Incorporation from time to time and at any time
in the manner now or hereafter prescribed by the laws of the State of Delaware,
and all rights conferred upon stockholders and directors are granted subject to
such reservation.
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I, the undersigned, being the sole incorporator hereinbefore named,
for the purpose of forming a corporation in pursuance of the General Corporation
Law of the State of Delaware, do make and file this Certificate, hereby
declaring and certifying that the facts herein stated are true, and accordingly
have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of January 1997.
______________________________
Laura-Jayne Urso
Sole Incorporator
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