Exhibit 10.1
Gopher Protocol Inc.
2500 Broadway, Suite F-125
Santa Monica, CA 90404
July 31, 2018
Mitchell K. Tavera III
Letter of Appointment – Board
of Directors
Dear Mr. Tavera:
We are pleased to offer you the
role as a director of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Gopher Protocol Inc. (the “Company”). This
letter contains the terms of your appointment as a director of the Board of Directors of the Company and will be effective from
the date of the signing of this letter.
| a) | You will be expected to attend all meetings (either in person or
by teleconference) of the Board of the Company, of which we expect to hold approximately four per annum as well as sign all written
consents if you deem appropriate. In addition, you will be expected to perform such other duties as are reasonably contemplated
by your holding office as a director of the Company or which may reasonably be assigned to you by the Board from time to time.
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| b) | As a director you will:
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| i) | Perform to the best of your abilities and knowledge the duties reasonably
assigned to you by the Board from time to time, whether during or outside business hours and at such places as the Board reasonably
requires;
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| ii) | Use all reasonable efforts to promote the interests of the Company; |
| iii) | Attend directors’ meetings; |
| iv) | Act in the best interests of the Company; and
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| v) | Work closely with the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive
Officer.
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| c) | As you will appreciate, however, your time commitment will ultimately
be a product of the matters confronting the Company from time to time and matters properly requiring your attention as a director
of the Company.
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| a) | Upon signing this agreement, the Company shall issue you (i) 100,000
shares of common stock of the Company and (ii) a stock option to purchase 100,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at
an exercise price of $2.50 per share. |
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| b) | The Company shall issue you 100,000 shares of common stock of the
Company per annum in four equal tranches of 25,000 on January 1st, April 1st, July 1st and October
1st commencing January 1, 2019. |
| c) | The Company shall pay you $5,000 per quarter on January 1st,
April 1st, July 1st and October 1st commencing July 1, 2018. |
| 3. | Expenses: Subject to
you providing the Company with receipts or other evidence of payment, the Company will pay for or reimburse you for all travelling,
hotel and other expenses reasonably incurred by you in connection with attending and returning from Board, Committee, Company,
meetings or otherwise in connection with the Company's business. Reasonable travel and out of pocket expenses used in connection
with the business of the Group shall include:
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| a) | Domestic and international travel (economy class under 4 hours and
business class over 4 hours); and
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| 4. | Termination of Appointment:
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| a) | Your appointment as the Director may be terminated at any time by
the vote of the stockholders of the Company in accordance with the certificate of incorporation and bylaws of the Company.
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| b) | You acknowledge and agree that if the shareholders of the Company
terminate your appointment, you will have no claim of any kind against the Company by reason of the termination.
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| c) | You are at liberty to terminate the appointment at any time by notice
in writing to the Company.
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| 5. | What happens after termination
of appointment?
If your appointment is terminated for any reason or you
resign for any reason:
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| a) | The Company may set off any amounts you owe the Company against any
amounts the Company owes to you as a Director at the date of termination except for amounts the Company is not entitled by law
to set off;
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| b) | You must return all the Company's property (including property leased
by the Company) to the Company on termination including all written or machine readable material, software, computers, credit cards,
keys and vehicles; and
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| c) | You must not record any confidential information in any form after
termination.
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| a) | You undertake to the Company that you will not during the term of
your appointment engage in a business or an activity that would place you in a position of conflict in respect of the performance
of your duties.
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| b) | The terms of your appointment do not restrict you from accepting
appointment as a director of any other company outside of the Company’s industry, providing consulting services or any other
business or other activity whatsoever. The Company acknowledges and accepts your current roles as a director. You recognize
that the services to be performed by you under the Agreement are special, unique and extraordinary. The parties confirm that it
is reasonably necessary for the protection of the Company's goodwill that you agree, and accordingly, you do hereby agree and covenant,
that during your term as director, you will not, directly or indirectly, except for the benefit of the Company: |
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| i. | become an officer, director, more than 2%
stockholder, partner, associate, employee, owner, proprietor, agent, creditor, independent contractor, co-venturer or otherwise,
or be interested in or associated with any other corporation, firm or business engaged in the same or any similar business competitive
with that of the Company (including the Company's present and future subsidiaries and affiliates) (the "Business"); or |
| ii. | solicit, cause or authorize, directly or
indirectly, to be solicited for or on behalf of himself or third parties from parties who were customers of the Company (including
its present and future subsidiaries and affiliates) at any time during your term, any business similar to the business transacted
by the Company with such customer; or |
| iii. | accept or cause or authorize, directly or
indirectly, to be accepted for or on behalf of your or third parties, business from any such customers of the Company (including
its present and future subsidiaries and affiliates); or |
| iv. | solicit, or cause or authorize, directly
or indirectly, to be solicited for employment for or on behalf of you or third parties, any persons who were at any time during
your term hereunder, employees of the Company (including its present and future subsidiaries and affiliates); or |
| v. | employ or cause or authorize, directly or
indirectly, to be employed for or on behalf of yourself or third parties, any such employees of the Company (including its present
and future subsidiaries and affiliates); or |
| vi. | use the tradenames, trademarks, or trade
dress of any of the products of the Company (including its present and future subsidiaries and affiliates); or any substantially
similar tradename, trademark or trade dress likely to cause, or having the effect of causing, confusion in the minds of manufacturers,
customers, suppliers and retail outlets and the public generally. |
You acknowledge the intention that
the Company shall have the broadest possible protection of the value of its business consistent with public policy, and it will
not violate the intent of the parties if any court should determine that, consistent with established precedent of the forum state,
the public policy of such state requires a more limited restriction in geographical area or duration of the aforesaid covenant
not to compete, contained in an appropriate decree.
| c) | Except as permitted in this Agreement or as
approved by the Company, you will not (i) use any Confidential Information (as defined below) or (ii) disseminate or in any way
disclose the Confidential Information to any person, firm, business or governmental agency or department. You may use the Confidential
Information to perform your Duties for the benefit of Company. You shall treat all Confidential Information with the same degree
of care as you accord to your own confidential information, but in no case shall you use less than reasonable care. You shall immediately
give notice to Company of any unauthorized use or disclosure of the Confidential Information. You shall assist Company in remedying
any the unauthorized use or disclosure of the Confidential Information. You agree not to communicate any information to Company
in violation of the proprietary rights of any third party. |
“Confidential
Information” means (a) any technical and non-technical information related to the Company’s business and current, future
and proposed products and services of Company, including for example and without limitation, Company innovations, intellectual
property, and information concerning research, development, design details and specifications, financial information, procurement
requirements, engineering and manufacturing information, customer lists, business forecasts, sales information, marketing plans
and business plans, and provided, in each case, that each is marked as “confidential” or “proprietary”
and (b) any information that Company has received from others that may be made known to you and that Company is obligated to treat
as confidential or proprietary, and provided, in each case, that each is marked as “confidential” or “proprietary”.
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| 7. | Notices and Other Communications:
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| a) | Service of Notices
A notice, demand, consent, approval or communication under this letter (collectively a “Notice”)
must be:
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| i) | In writing and in English directed to the address advised by the
recipient for notices, as varied by any notice; and
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| ii) | Hand delivered or sent by prepaid post or facsimile to that address.
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| b) | Effective on Receipt: A Notice given in accordance with section 7a
takes effect when received (or at a later time specified in the Notice), and is taken to be received:
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| i) | If hand delivered, on delivery;
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| ii) | If sent by prepaid post, two Business Days after the date of posting
(or seven Business Days after the date of posting if posted to or from outside The United States of America);
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| iii) | If sent by facsimile, when the sender's facsimile system generates
a message confirming successful transmission of the entire Notice unless, within eight Business Hours after the transmission, the
recipient informs the sender that it has not received the entire Notice; |
but if the delivery, receipt or transmission is not on a Business Day or is after 5.00pm on a Business Day, the Notice is taken
to be received at 9.00am on the Business Day after that delivery, receipt or transmission.
| a) | Alterations: This letter may be altered only in writing signed by
each party.
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| b) | Approvals and consents: Except where this letter expressly states
otherwise, a party may, in its discretion, give conditionally or unconditionally or withhold any approval or consent under this
letter.
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| c) | Assignment: This letter may NOT be assigned by either party.
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| d) | Costs: Each party must pay its own costs of negotiating, preparing
and executing this letter.
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| e) | Survival: Any indemnity in this letter is independent and survives
termination of this letter. Any other provision by its nature intended to survive termination of this letter survives termination
of this letter.
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| f) | Counterparts: This letter may be executed in counterparts. All executed
counterparts constitute one document.
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| g) | No Merger: The rights and obligations of the parties under this letter
do not merge on completion of any transaction contemplated by this letter.
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| h) | Entire Agreement: This letter constitutes the entire agreement between
the parties in connection with its subject matter and supersedes all previous agreements or understandings between the parties
in connection with its subject matter.
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| i) | Further Action: Each party must do, at its own expense, everything
reasonably necessary (including executing documents) to give full effect to this letter and the transactions contemplated by it.
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| j) | Waiver: A party does not waive a right, power or remedy if it fails
to exercise or delays in exercising the right, power or remedy. A single or partial exercise of a right, power or remedy does not
prevent another or further exercise of that or another right, power or remedy. A waiver of a right, power or remedy must be in
writing and signed by the party giving the waiver.
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| k) | Relationship: Except where this letter expressly states otherwise,
it does not create a relationship of employment, agency or partnership between the parties.
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| l) | Confidentiality: A party may only use the confidential information
of another party for the purposes of this letter, and must keep the existence of this letter and the terms of it and the confidential
information of another party confidential information except where:
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| i) | The information is public knowledge (but not because of a breach
of this letter) or the party has independently created the information; or
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| ii) | Disclosure is required by law or a regulatory body (including a relevant
stock exchange).
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| m) | Announcements: A public announcement in connection with this letter
or a transaction contemplated by it must be agreed by the parties before it is made, except if required by law or a regulatory
body (including a relevant stock exchange).
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| 9. | Insurance: The Company
has directors' and officers' liability insurance under which you are covered in the US and elsewhere for all usual risks during
the term of your appointment as the Director. The Company will maintain that cover for the full term of your appointment.
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| 10. | Contract for Services:
This is a contract for services and is not a contract of employment.
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| 11. | Governing Law: This Agreement
shall be governed by the laws of the State of Nevada (without giving effect to choice of law principles or rules thereof that would
cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Nevada) and the invalidity or unenforceability of
any provision hereof shall in no way affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. Any provision of this Agreement
which is prohibited or unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective only to the extent of such
prohibition or unenforceability without invalidating or affecting the remaining provisions hereof, and any such prohibition or
unenforceability in any jurisdiction shall not invalidate or render unenforceable such provision in any other jurisdiction.
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Please sign the attached copy of
this letter to indicate that you have read, understood and accept the terms of your appointment.
Yours Sincerely,
Gopher Protocol Inc.
By:/s/ Douglas Davis
Name: Douglas Davis
Title: Interim Chief Executive Officer
Agreed to and accepted by:
/s/Mitchell K. Tavera III
Mitchell K. Tavera III
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