EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
JAMES W. GARRISON
AND
INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
NOVEMBER 20, 1996
===============================================================================
=
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
THIS EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT is made this 20th day of November, 1996, by and between James W. Garrison, a Pennsylvania resident (the "Employee"), and InterDigital Communications Corporation, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (the "Company").
WHEREAS, the Company is engaged in the business of developing and marketing advanced digital wireless telecommunications systems using proprietary technologies for voice and data communications and the licensing of wireless digital telephone technology (the "Business").
WHEREAS, Employee serves in the position of Vice President - Finance of the Company (Employee's "Position") .
WHEREAS, the Company has offered Employee a substantial increase in base salary on the condition that Employee enter into this Agreement with Company in order to set forth certain terms and conditions relating to Employee's continued employment with the Company.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and obligations contained herein, and intending to be legally bound, the parties, subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein, agree as follows:
1. Salary Increase. The Company hereby grants Employee an increase to his base salary as set forth in Section 4 below and Employee hereby accepts such increase.
2. Term and Duties. Until such time as Employee's employment hereunder is terminated pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 hereto (the "Term"), Employee shall serve the Company faithfully and to the best of his ability and shall devote his full time, attention, skill and efforts to the performance of the
1
duties required by or appropriate for his Position. Employee agrees to assume such duties and responsibilities as may be customarily incident to such position, and as may be reasonably assigned to Employee from time to time by the President or the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Employee shall report to the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
3. Other Business Activities. During the Term, Employee will not, without the prior written consent of the Company, directly or indirectly engage in any other business activities or pursuits whatsoever, except activities in connection with any charitable or civic activities, personal investments and serving as an executor, trustee or in other similar fiduciary capacity; provided, however, that such activities do not interfere with his performance of his responsibilities and obligations pursuant to this Agreement.
4. Compensation. The Company shall pay Employee, and Employee hereby agrees to accept, as compensation for all services rendered hereunder and for Employee's covenant not to compete as provided for in Section 8 hereof, a base salary at the annual rate of One Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars (subject to any increase from time to time, the "Base Salary"). The Base Salary shall be inclusive of all applicable income, social security and other taxes and charges which are required by law to be withheld by the Company or which are requested to be withheld by Employee, and which shall be withheld and paid in accordance with the Company's normal payroll practice for its similarly situated employees from time to time in effect. In addition to the Base Salary, Employee shall be eligible to participate in whatever bonus plan, if any, the Company shall adopt for its executive officers, including without limitation, the Executive Bonus Plan the Company currently intends to develop and implement with the assistance of Ernst & Young. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, the Company shall be under no obligation to develop and/or implement any bonus plan, including without limitation, the aforesaid Executive Bonus Plan, or to continue any such plan, if adopted.
5. Benefits and Expenses. Employee shall be entitled to receive those employee benefits (including expense
2
reimbursement) as shall be provided to similarly situated executive employees of the Company ("Benefits").
6. Confidentiality. Employee recognizes and acknowledges that the Proprietary Information (as hereinafter defined) is a valuable, special and unique asset of the Business of the Company. As a result, both during the Term and thereafter, Employee shall not, without the prior written consent of the Company, for any reason either directly or indirectly divulge to any third-party or use for his own benefit, or for any purpose other than the exclusive benefit of the Company, any confidential, proprietary, business and technical information or trade secrets of the Company or of any subsidiary or affiliate of the Company ("Proprietary Information") revealed, obtained or developed in the course of his employment with the Company. Such Proprietary Information shall include, but shall not be limited to, the intangible personal property described in Section 7(b) hereof, any information relating to methods of production and manufacture, research, computer codes or instructions (including source and object code listings, program logic algorithms, subroutines, modules or other subparts of computer programs and related documentation, including program notation), computer processing systems and techniques, concepts, layouts, flowcharts, specifications, know-how, any associated user or service manuals or other like textual materials (including any other data and materials used in performing the Employee's duties), all computer inputs and outputs (regardless of the media on which stored or located), hardware and software configurations, designs, architecture, interfaces, plans, sketches, blueprints, and any other materials prepared by the Employee in the course of, relating to or arising out of his employment by the Company, or prepared by any other Company employee, representative, or contractor for the Company, or its customers (including information and other material relating to the ASIC), costs, business studies, business procedures, finances, marketing data, methods, plans and efforts, the identities of licensees, strategic partners, customers, contractors and suppliers and prospective licensees, strategic partners, customers, contractors and suppliers, the terms of contracts and agreements with licensees, strategic partners, customers, contractors and suppliers, the Company's relationship with actual and prospective licensees, strategic partners, customers, contractors and
3
suppliers and the needs and requirements of, and the Company's course of dealing with, any such actual or prospective licensees, strategic partners, customers, contractors and suppliers, personnel information, customer and vendor credit information, and any other materials that have not been made available to the general public, provided, that nothing herein contained shall restrict Employee's ability to make such disclosures during the course of his employment as may be necessary or appropriate to the effective and efficient discharge of the duties required by or appropriate for his Position or as such disclosures may be required by law; and further provided, that nothing herein contained shall restrict Employee from divulging or using for his own benefit or for any other purpose any Proprietary Information that is readily available to the general public so long as such information did not become available to the general public as a direct or indirect result of Employee's breach of this Section 6. Failure by the Company to mark any of the Proprietary Information as confidential or proprietary shall not affect its status as Proprietary Information under the terms of this Agreement.
7. Property.
(a) All right, title and interest in and to Proprietary Information shall be and remain the sole and exclusive property of the Company. During the Term, Employee shall not remove from the Company's offices or premises any documents, records, notebooks, files, correspondence, reports, memoranda or similar materials of or containing Proprietary Information, or other materials or property of any kind belonging to the Company unless necessary or appropriate in accordance with the duties and responsibilities required by or appropriate for his Position and, in the event that such materials or property are removed, all of the foregoing shall be returned to their proper files or places of safekeeping as promptly as possible after the removal shall serve its specific purpose. Employee shall not make, retain, remove and/or distribute any copies of any of the foregoing for any reason whatsoever except as may be necessary in the discharge of his assigned duties and shall not divulge to any third person the nature of and/or contents of any of the foregoing or of any other oral or written information to which he may have access or with which for any reason he may become familiar, except as disclosure shall be necessary in the
4
performance of his duties; and upon the termination of his employment with the Company, he shall leave with or return to the Company all originals and copies of the foregoing then in his possession, whether prepared by Employee or by others.
(b) (i) Employee agrees that all right, title and interest in and to any innovations, designs, systems, analyses, ideas for marketing programs, and all copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade names, or similar intangible personal property which have been or are developed or created in whole or in part by Employee (1) at any time and at any place while the Employee is employed by Company and which, in the case of any or all of the foregoing, are related to and used in connection with the Business of the Company, (2) as a result of tasks assigned to Employee by the Company, or (3) from the use of premises or personal property (whether tangible or intangible) owned, leased or contracted for by the Company (collectively, the "Intellectual Property"), shall be and remain forever the sole and exclusive property of the Company. The Employee shall promptly disclose to the Company all Intellectual Property, and the Employee shall have no claim for additional compensation for the Intellectual Property.
(ii) The Employee acknowledges that all the Intellectual Property that is copyrightable shall be considered a work made for hire under United States Copyright Law. To the extent that any copyrightable Intellectual Property may not be considered a work made for hire under the applicable provisions of the United States Copyright Law, or to the extent that, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the Employee may retain an interest in any Intellectual Property that is not copyrightable, the Employee hereby irrevocably assigns and transfers to the Company any and all right, title, or interest that the Employee may have in the Intellectual Property under copyright, patent, trade secret and trademark law, in perpetuity or for the longest period otherwise permitted by law, without the necessity of further consideration. The Company shall be entitled to obtain and hold in its own name all copyrights, patents, trade secrets, and trademarks with respect thereto.
5
(iii) Employee further agrees to reveal promptly all information relating to the same to an appropriate officer of the Company and to cooperate with the Company and execute such documents as may be necessary or appropriate (1) in the event that the Company desires to seek copyright, patent or trademark protection, or other analogous protection, thereafter relating to the Intellectual Property, and when such protection is obtained, to renew and restore the same, or (2) to defend any opposition proceedings in respect of obtaining and maintaining such copyright, patent or trademark protection, or other analogous protection.
(iv) In the event the Company is unable after reasonable effort to secure Employee's signature on any of the documents referenced in Section 7(b)(iii) hereof, whether because of Employee's physical or mental incapacity or for any other reason whatsoever, Employee hereby irrevocably designates and appoints the Company and its duly authorized officers and agents as Employee's agent and attorney-in-fact, to act for and in his behalf and stead to execute and file any such documents and to do all other lawfully permitted acts to further the prosecution ...
*End of Preview*
Click the 'Add to Cart' button to download the complete and formatted agreement.