The parties agree as follows:
1. Performance of Services:
AITS shall provide the Information Technology infrastructure support services set forth in the attached Professional Services Schedule ("Schedule") and any subsequent schedules executed by the parties. Each Schedule shall set forth the type of services to be performed and the related fees. Fees shall be subject to change by AITS Information Systems upon notice to Client. Any fee estimates provided for work to be billed on an hourly or daily basis are for informational purposes only; Client agrees to pay for the actual services provided by AITS Information Systems at the specified rate.
2. Fees & Payment:
Client agrees to pay all fees specified on each Schedule. All payments shall be made in U.S. dollars and will be due on Client's receipt of the applicable invoice. AITS may bill in advance for any recurring service. Client shall be responsible for all taxes, withholdings, duties and levies arising from the services (excluding taxes based on the net income of AITS). AITS shall have the right to suspend service if Client has failed to pay any invoice within ninety (90) days of receipt
3. Term of Agreement:
(a) Unless terminated earlier in accordance with (b) below, the initial term of this Agreement shall commence on the Effective Date and Terminate twelve (12) months thereafter. This Agreement shall automatically renew for successive one (1) year terms unless either party Provides the other with notification of termination at least thirty (30) days prior to expiration of the then-current term.
(b) Either party may terminate this Agreement (including any and all Schedules) at any time if the other party: (i) fails to cure any material breach of this Agreement within thirty (30) days after written notice of such breach or (ii) ceases operation without a successor. Termination is not an exclusive remedy and the exercise by either party of any remedy under this Agreement will be without prejudice to any other remedies it may have under this Agreement, by law, or otherwise. Sections 4(b) (Warranty Disclaimer), 5 (Liquidated Damages), 6 (Limitation of Liability), 7(Confidential and Proprietary Information) and 8-14 (general terms) shall survive any expiration or termination of this Agreement.
(c) Removal of Customer Software & Information upon Termination. For security and liability purposes, AITS will remove all client data from AITS hosted servers upon termination of services. To avoid data loss, Client must make sure they have copied and saved all data prior to termination. AITS may provide a copy of the client's data to the client to prevent loss of valuable data upon client request. Upon termination of services, client assumes full responsibility for their data. Client will be responsible for all costs related to the removal of their data from AITS's servers.
4. Limited Warranty:
(a) AITS warrants for a period of thirty (30) days following delivery (the "Warranty Period") that all services will be performed in a professional manner in accordance with generally applicable industry standards. AITS's sole liability (and Client's exclusive remedy) for any breach of this warranty shall be for AITS to re-perform any deficient services, or, if AITS is unable to remedy such deficiency within thirty (30) days, to void the invoice for the deficient services. AITS shall have no obligation with respect to a warranty claim: (i) if notified of such claim after the Warranty Period or (ii) if the claim is the result of third-party hardware or software, the actions of Client or some other party or is otherwise caused by factors outside the reasonable control of AITS.
(b) THIS SECTION 4 IS A LIMITED WARRANTY AND SETS FORTH THE ONLY WARRANTIES MADE BY AITS. AITS MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR UNDERTAKINGS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT OR ANY WARRANTIES REGARDING THE PERFORMANCE OF ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE PROVIDED OR INSTALLED BY AITS. CLIENT MAY HAVE OTHER STATUTORY RIGHTS. HOWEVER, TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE DURATION OF STATUTORILY REQUIRED WARRANTIES, IF ANY, SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE WARRANTY PERIOD.
5. LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FOR HIRING AITS EMPLOYEES:
If, during the term of this Agreement or for twelve months thereafter, Client directly or indirectly retains the services (whether as an employee, independent contractor or otherwise) of any employee of AITS (or ex-employee within three months of the employee's termination from AITS) who has provided services to Client on behalf of AITS, Client agrees that AITS will be damaged, but that the amount of this damage will be difficult to determine. Accordingly, Client agrees that, for each such AITS employee hired by Client, Client will pay AITS Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000) as liquidated damages. Notwithstanding the foregoing, for the purposes of this section 5, "employee of AITS" shall include only employees of AITS who provide services to AITS customers and shall not include accountants, attorneys or other independent contractors of AITS who provide services to AITS itself.
6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:
AITS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICES, LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF DATA, OR LOSS OR INCREASED EXPENSE OF USE CLIENT OR ANY THIRD PARTY INCURS), WHETHER IN AN ACTION IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, NEGLIGENCE), OR STRICT LIABILITY, EVEN IF AITS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LIABILITIES. AITS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROBLEMS THAT OCCUR AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AMOUNT CLIENT MAY RECOVER UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE TOTAL PAYMENTS MADE TO AITS BY CLIENT PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT IN THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING TWELVE (12) MONTHS. THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION 6 SHALL NOT APPLY TO PERSONAL INJURY OR DAMAGE TO TANGIBLE PROPERTY CAUSED BY THE WILLFUL MISCONDUCT OR GROSS NEGLIGENCE OF AITS.
7. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPERTY INFORMATION:
Each party agrees that all know-how, business, technical and financial information it obtains ("Receiving Party") from the disclosing party ("Disclosing Party") constitute the confidential property of the Disclosing Party ("Confidential Information"), provided that it is identified as confidential at the time of disclosure or should be reasonably known by the Receiving Party to be Confidential Information due to the nature of the information disclosed and the circumstances surrounding the disclosure. Except as may be necessary to perform its obligations under this Agreement, the Receiving Party will hold in confidence and not use or disclose any Confidential Information. The Receiving Party's nondisclosure obligation shall not apply to information that: (i) was known to it prior to receipt of the Confidential Information; (ii) is publicly available; (iii) is rightfully obtained by the Receiving Party from a third party; (iv) is independently developed by employees of the Receiving Party; or (v) is required to be disclosed pursuant to a regulation, law or court order.
Any templates, schematics, processes or technical documentation provided by AITS shall be deemed Confidential Information and proprietary information of AITS without any marking or further designation. Client may use such information solely for its own internal business purposes.
AITS shall maintain the confidentiality of information in its possession regarding individual protected health information in accordance with applicable law, and shall not release such information, to any other person or entity, except as required by law.
8. Independent Contractor:
The parties to this Agreement are independent contractors. There is no relationship of partnership, joint venture, employment, franchise or agency created hereby between the parties. Neither party will have the power to bind the other or incur obligations on the other party's behalf without the other party's prior written consent.
9. Assignment:
This Agreement may not be assigned by Client without the prior written consent of AITS but may be assigned by AITS (i) pursuant to a merger or change of control or (ii) to an assignee of all or substantially all of AITS's assets. Any purported assignment in violation of this section shall be void.
10. Disputes:
Governing Law; Arbitration: California law will govern and enforce this Agreement. Any litigation or arbitration between Client and AITS will take place in any state court located within Riverside County, California or federal court within the Northern District of California. Client and AITS waive any objection to personal jurisdiction or venue in any forum located in those jurisdictions. Except for a claim of payments of amounts due, no action, regardless of form, arising out of this Agreement may be brought by either party against the other more than one year after the cause of action has arisen. At the option of either Client or AITS, any dispute arising from or with respect to this Agreement will be decided by arbitration by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial rules. At the request of either party, proceedings may be conducted in secrecy.
11. Complete Understanding: Modification:
This Agreement, including any and all Attachments and Schedules attached hereto, constitutes the full and complete understanding and agreement between Client and AITS and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous negotiations, discussions or agreements, whether written or oral, between the parties regarding the subject matter contained herein. Any waiver, modification or amendment of any provision of this Agreement will be effective only if in writing and signed by both Client and AITS.
12. Titles/Headings:
Headings are inserted for the convenience of the Parties only and are not to be considered when interpreting this Agreement.
13. Waiver:
Waiver by either Party of a breach, default, delay, or omission of any of the provisions of this Agreement by the other Party will not be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or other provisions under this Agreement.
14. Severability:
In the event that any of the provisions of this Agreement are held to be unenforceable in whole or in part, the remainder of this Agreement will nevertheless continue to be valid and enforceable with the invalid or unenforceable parts severed from the remainder of this Agreement.
15. Force Majeure:
Neither party shall be liable to the other for any delay or failure to perform any obligation under this Agreement (except for a failure to pay fees) if the delay or failure is due to unforeseen events which are beyond the reasonable control of such party, such as strikes, blockade, war, terrorism, riots, natural disasters, and/or refusal of license by the government, insofar as such an event prevents or delays the affected party from fulfilling its obligations and such party is not able to prevent or remove the force majeure at reasonable cost.
16. Notices and Reports:
Any notice or report hereunder shall be in writing to the notice address set forth below and shall be deemed given: (i) upon receipt if by personal delivery; (ii) upon receipt if sent by certified or registered U.S. mail (return receipt requested); or (iii) one day after it is sent if by next day delivery by a major commercial delivery service.
17. Scope:
This is not an all-inclusive services agreement. Payment under this Agreement only applies to the services outlined in the attached Service Comparison Chart. All services not specified in the Service Comparison Chart will be billed at the hourly rate indicated in the Service Comparison Chart. Unless a separate services agreement is entered into for particular work outside the scope of the attached Service Comparison Chart, the remaining terms of this Agreement will apply to all services provided to Client by AITS.