Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a court to award, or a corporation’s board of directors to grant, indemnity to directors and officers under certain circumstances and subject to certain limitations. The terms of Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law are sufficiently broad to permit indemnification under certain circumstances for liabilities, including reimbursement of expenses incurred, arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).
As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, our Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that eliminate the personal liability of our directors for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as a director, except liability for the following:
•any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the Registrant or its stockholders;
•acts or omissions not in good faith or that involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;
•under Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (regarding unlawful dividends and stock purchases); or
•any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit.
As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, our Bylaws provide that:
•we are required to indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, subject to very limited exceptions;
•we may indemnify other employees and agents as set forth in the Delaware General Corporation Law;
•we are required to advance expenses, as incurred, to our directors and officers in connection with a legal proceeding to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, subject to limited exceptions; and
•the rights conferred in the bylaws are not exclusive.
We have entered, and intend to continue to enter into separate indemnification agreements with our current directors and executive officers to provide these directors and executive officers additional contractual assurances regarding the scope of the indemnification set forth in the Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and to provide additional procedural protections. At present, there is no pending litigation or proceeding involving a director, executive officer or employee for which indemnification is sought. The indemnification provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws and the indemnification agreements between us and our directors and executive officers may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification of our directors and executive officers for liabilities arising under the Securities Act.
We have directors’ and officers’ liability insurance for securities matters.
Item 9. Undertakings.
(a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:
(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:
(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;
(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the Registration Statement; and
(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement.
(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
(b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.