The Participant acknowledges and agrees that in the performance of the Participant’s duties to the Company during the Participant’s employment with the Company, the Participant shall be brought into frequent contact with existing and potential customers of the Company throughout the world. The Participant also agrees that trade secrets and confidential information of the Company, more fully described in Section 10.8, gained by the Participant during the Participant’s association with the Company, have been developed by the Company through substantial expenditures of time, effort and money and constitute valuable and unique property of the Company. The Participant further understands and agrees that the foregoing makes it necessary for the protection of the Company’s business that the Participant not compete with the Company during the Participant’s employment with the Company and not compete with the Company for a reasonable period thereafter, as further provided in this Section 10.