2. Confidential or Proprietary Information. If confidential or proprietary information is disclosed orally or by observation or visualization, it will be identified as protected by copyright prior to such disclosure and reduced to written in aggregate form within 30 days of disclosure and delivered to the recipient. Our business position also depends in part on our ability to preserve and defend our existing patents and to obtain, preserve and defend additional patents and other intellectual property rights. We intend to apply for additional patents, but our pending and future patent applications may not result in granted patents or may not be granted in a timely manner. In addition, granted patents must not contain claims broad enough to protect us from third parties with similar technologies or products or to give us a competitive advantage, including exclusivity in a particular product area. The scope of our patent claims may also vary from country to country, as each country has different patent laws. We may be challenged by third parties with respect to our intellectual property, including, but not limited to, claims of validity, applicability, scope and effective duration. Patent granting procedures, related proceedings, and litigation in the United States and other countries can be costly, time-consuming, and ultimately fail.
In addition, patents granted abroad may offer less protection than under U.S. patent law and may not adequately protect our protected information. Our competitors can independently develop proprietary technologies and processes identical or substantially equivalent to ours, or design around our patents. Our competitors may also own or acquire intellectual property rights that would compromise our ability to develop or market our product offerings. Expiring the patents we rely on to protect key products could diminish our competitive advantage and hurt our business and prospects. 9. Ownership of Protected Information. You agree that the Company is and will remain the exclusive owner of the Protected Information (other than derivative documents to the extent you create, other than the proprietary information contained therein) and all patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names and other intellectual property rights contained therein. No license or transfer of these rights or any part thereof to you or any of your agents is granted or implied under this Agreement. If Staples determines that it does not wish to proceed with the transaction, it will promptly notify Essendant.
Whether written or oral, returned or destroyed, all proprietary information will continue to be kept confidential in accordance with the terms of this written agreement. .