Amazon Alexa Skills Challenge: Alexa Conversations Official Rules – (the “Official Rules”)

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

Name:  Alexa Skills Challenge: Alexa Conversations (the “Competition”)

Website: http://Alexaconversations.Devpost.com (the “Competition Website”)

1. POSTER & ADMINISTRATOR

Poster (the “Poster”): Amazon Digital Services LLC, 410 Terry Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109-5210.

The Poster is the sponsor of the Competition.

Administrator (the “Administrator”): Devpost, Inc. (“Devpost”), 222 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10038.

The Administrator is responsible for the rules, administration, and operation of the Competition. The Poster, Amazon, is not responsible for the administration or operation of the Competition. IMPORTANT: The Administrator will be the official timekeeper for the Competition.

2. DATES AND TIMING

Submission Period: July, 22, 2020 (10:00am Eastern Time, USA) – September 14, 2020 (5:00pm Eastern Time, USA) (the “Submission Period”)

Bonus Extension Period: September 17, 2020 (10:00am Eastern Time) – October 5, 2020 (11:59pm Eastern Time) (the “Bonus Extension Period)

Additional Certification Period: September 14, 2020 (5:00pm Eastern Time, USA) – September 30, 2020 (5:00pm Eastern Time, USA) (the “Certification Period”)

Finalist and Bonus Prize Judging Period: September 15, 2020 (10:00am Eastern Time, USA) – October 5, 2020 (5:00pm Eastern Time, USA) (the “Finalist Judging Period”)

Finalists Announced: On or around October 6, 2020 (10:00am Eastern Time)

Finalist Skill Improvement Period: October 7, 2020 (10:00am Eastern Time) – October 18, 2020 (5:00pm Eastern Time) (the “Skill Improvement Period”)

Second Round Judging Period: October 19, 2020 (10:00pm Eastern Time) – October 22, 2020 (5:00pm Eastern Time) (the “Second Round Judging Period”)

Grand Prize Winner Announced: On or around October 30, 2020 (2:00pm Eastern Time)

IMPORTANT NOTES ON DATES & TIMING:

• All Submissions must be entered on the Competition Website and submitted for certification to the U.S. Alexa Skills Store before the end of the Submission Period to be eligible Prizes. There are restrictions to how many prizes one submission can win. See IMPORTANT NOTE ON MULTIPLE PRIZE ELIGIBILITY below for more details.
• Submissions must pass certification and be publicly available in the U.S. Alexa Skills Store before the end of the Certification Period.
• Ten (10) Finalist Prize winners (“Finalists”) will be determined during the Finalist and Bonus Prize Judging PeriodOne Grand Prize Winner will be selected from the Finalists based on the Judging Criteria
• The Grand Prize Winner winner will be selected during the Second Round Judging Period. See Sections 6 and 7 for additional details on Judging and Prizes.

3. ELIGIBILITY

A. The Competition IS open to:

• Individuals who are at least the age of majority* where they reside as of the time of entry (“Eligible Individuals”). (*NOTE: The age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as recognized or declared by law. Most countries set the age of majority at 18 including the US, UK, Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority).
• Teams of Eligible Individuals (“Teams”)
• Organizations (including agencies, corporations, not-for-profit corporations and other nonprofit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other legal entities) that exist and have been organized or incorporated at the time of entry (“Organizations”) 

(the above are collectively, “Makers”)

An Eligible Individual may join more than one Team or Organization and an Eligible Individual who is part of a Team or Organization may also enter the Competition on an individual basis.

If a Team, or Organization is entering the Competition, they must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Representative”) to represent, act, and enter a Submission, on their behalf. The Representative and each team member must meet the eligibility requirements above. By entering a Submission on the Site on behalf of a Team, or Organization you represent and warrant that you are the Representative authorized to act on behalf of your Team, or Organization.

B. The Competition IS NOT open to:

• Individuals who are residents of, or Organizations domiciled in, Brazil, Quebec, or any country, state, province or territory where the laws of the United States or local law prohibits participating or receiving a prize in the Competition (including, but not limited to Cuba, Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Syria and any other country designated by the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx)
• Organizations involved with the design, production, paid promotion, execution, or distribution of the Competition, including the Poster and Administrator (“Promotion Entities”)
• Employees, representatives and agents** of Promotion Entities and all members of their immediate family or household*
• Any other individual involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Competition, and each member of their immediate family or household*
• Any Judge (defined below), or company or individual that employs a Judge
• Any parent company, subsidiary, or other affiliate*** of any organization described above
• Any other individual or organization whose participation in the Competition would create, in the sole discretion of the Poster and/or Administrator, a real or apparent conflict of interest
• NOTE: You may not submit skills that were grand prize, finalist, or bonus prize winners in any previous Devpost challenges sponsored by Amazon Alexa.

*The members of an individual’s immediate family include the individual’s spouse, children and stepchildren, parents and stepparents, and siblings and stepsiblings. The members of an individual’s household include any other person that shares the same residence as the individual for at least three (3) months out of the year.

**Agents include individuals or organizations that in creating a Submission to the Competition, are acting on behalf of, and at the direction of, a Promotion Entity through a contractual or similar relationship.

***An affiliate is: (a) an organization that is under common control, sharing a common majority or controlling owner, or common management; or (b) an organization that has a substantial ownership in, or is substantially owned by the other organization.

4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Makers must do the following to participate in the Competition:

• Register for the Competition on the Competition Website by clicking the “Register for this hackathon” button. To complete registration, sign up to create a Devpost account, or log in with an existing Devpost account. There is no charge for creating a Devpost account. This will enable you to receive important updates and access the “Enter a Submission” page.
• Create an Amazon developer account, agree to the terms of Poster’s App Distribution and Services Agreement (the “Developer Agreement”) and check out the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) developer portal (including the Amazon policy guidelines and Getting Started Guide), and review the Resources page for links to the ASK tutorials and the Alexa Skills Certification Checklist. NOTE: You must be at least 18 years of age to create an Amazon developer account.
• Build (or update) and publish a skill in the U.S. Skill Store that integrates Alexa’s new Conversations feature. Global Makers may set the developer console to the U.S. to access the Conversations and submit to the U.S. Skills Store.  
• Host your Skill on AWS Lambda (recommended), or another hosting service of your choice. Use of AWS Lambda will not increase your chance of winning. NOTE: All eligible entries must be custom developed Skills. Blueprint Skills will not be considered eligible entries for the Competition.
• Test your Skill. No hardware is required! You don't need a Device to participate in the Competition. After you build your Skill, you can use one of the testing methods described in the Alexa developer documentation. Skills meant for screen-based Alexa devices can test using the methods here. You can also use the EchoSim simulator using your Amazon account to login.
• Create a video that includes footage that clearly explains your Alexa Skill’s features, functionality, and purchasing capabilities through a comprehensive demonstration on an Alexa device or simulator. 
• Enter your Skill:
• Complete and enter all of the required fields on the “Enter a Submission” page of the Competition Website, including your SKILL ID (each a “Submission”) during the Submission Period.
• Submit your Skill to the US Skill Store for certification before the end of the Submission Period. Note: You do not need to live in the U.S. to submit to their local store.
• Follow the additional Submission requirements described below
  
• To be eligible for prizes, your Skill must have passed certification and be available in the U.S. Skills Stores by the end of the Certification Period. Makers will be allowed to make minor changes (such as bug fixes) during the Certification Period to move through the certification phase. No substantial changes will be allowed, and all Skills that do not pass certification by the end of the Certification Period will be ineligible for prizes in the Competition.
• Finalists will be allowed to make changes and updates to their Skills during the Finalist Skill Improvement Period.

A. Language Requirements

• Language Requirements for your Skill: Your skill must support the primary language for the country or region of the Alexa Skill Store to which you are submitting. (https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/develop-skills-in-multiple-languages.html)
• Language requirements for your submission to Devpost: All Submission materials must be in English or, if not in English, the Maker must provide an English translation of the demonstration video, text description, and testing instructions as well as all other materials submitted.

B. Skill Requirements

1. What to Create: Makers must build and publish a functioning Alexa Skill, or update and publish an existing Alexa Skill, that integrates Alexa Conversations. (each a “Skill”).
2. Bonus Prize Categories: Applications may be entered into one or more of the following bonus prize categories (the “Categories”). As part of your Submission, you must select the bonus prizes which best applies to your Solution.

Category Bonus Prizes

• Bonus Prize - Best Food and Drink Skill: Build a skill to help customers select food, such as a meal planning for a special diet, a sandwich ordering, or a mixology skill.
• Bonus Prize - Best Travel and Transportation Skill: Build a skill to help customers plan a trip including help with reservations and tickets. For example, plan a camping trip complete with campsite and a rental car reservations, or help find local public transportation options.
• Bonus Prize - Best Productivity Skill: Help customers find, set, and modify appointments, activities, or tasks. For example, a skill that can help plan weekend activities by browsing local events and venues and adding them to the customer’s calendar.
• Bonus Prize - Best Education & Reference Skill: Build a skill to help customers use voice with learning applications. For example, navigate and visualize datasets available through public APIs, like CDC data, NOAA weather data, or NASA space data.
• Bonus Prize – Best Game Skill: Build a game skill (such as an escape room) that lets customers explore and solve puzzles through a conversation.
• Bonus Prize – Best Wildcard Skill: help customers do something outside of these categories. There are so many public APIs to choose from!
• Bonus Prize - Best Alexa Conversations Audio Skill: build a skill with a rich audio soundscape using the APL for audio (beta) feature to manage and mix audio files. For example, hear a rainstorm in the background of a weather skill or add exciting sound effects to a game
• Bonus Prize - Best Alexa Conversations Visual Skill: Build a skill optimized for devices with screens using the Alexa Presentation Language feature. For example, integrate touch into a game, display touchable charts and graphs, or browse a film archive.

At any time, and at its sole discretion, the Poster will have the ability to re-assign a submitted Submission from one Category to another or to disqualify a submission for not sufficiently fitting the main requirement.

i. Functionality: The Skill must be functioning and submitted for relevant Alexa Skill Store certification prior to the end of the Submission Period. The Skill must be certified and publicly available in the U.S. Alexa Skill Store prior to the end of the Certification Period. The Skill must function as depicted in the video and/or expressed in any other Submission materials.

ii. New and Existing Skills: Skills may be either newly created or updated by the Maker after the start of the Submission Period. Makers entering Skills that existed prior to the start of the Submission Period will be required to integrate Alexa Conversations during the Submission Period. Skills that have been selected as a winner in any other contest are not eligible for prizes in the Competition. NOTE: All eligible entries must be custom developed Skills. Blueprint Skills will not be considered eligible entries for the Competition. Skills from Grand Prize winners, Finalists, and Bonus Prize winners from previous Amazon Alexa competitions run on Devpost are NOT eligible.

iii. Multiple Submissions: A Maker may submit more than one Submission, however, each Submission must be unique and substantially different from each of the Maker’s other Submissions, as determined by the Poster and/or the Administrator. Please note, however, that each Maker is only eligible to receive one Participation Prize, regardless of how many Submissions they enter.

iv. SDKs, APIs, & Data: Skills may integrate SDKs, APIs and data, provided the Maker has the rights to use them.

v. Intellectual Property: Your Submission must: (a) be your (or your Team, or Organization’s) original work product; (b) be solely owned by you, your Team, or your Organization with no other person or entity having any right or interest in it; (c) not violate the intellectual property rights or other rights including but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent, contract, and/or privacy rights, of any other person or entity; and (d) comply with the Developer Agreement and all terms, rules and policies that Poster or its affiliates make available regarding submission of Alexa Skills. A Maker may contract with a third party for technical assistance to create the Submission provided the Submission components are solely the Maker’s work product and the result of the Maker’s ideas and creativity, and the Maker owns all rights to them. A Maker may submit a Submission that includes the use of open source software or hardware, provided the Maker complies with applicable open source licenses and, as part of the Submission, creates software that enhances and builds upon the features and functionality included in the underlying open source product. By entering the Competition you represent, warrant, and agree that your Submission meets these requirements.

vi. Financial or Preferential Support: A Skill must not have been developed, or derived from a Skill developed, with financial or preferential support from the Poster or Administrator. Such Skills include, but are not limited to, those that received funding or investment for their development, were developed under contract, or received a commercial license, from the Poster or Administrator any time prior to the end of Submission Period. This includes Skills that have been funded or co-developed by Amazon, including skills that earn money through licensing. The Administrator, at their sole discretion, may disqualify a Submission, if awarding a prize to the Submission or Maker would create a real or apparent conflict of interest.

C. Text Description, Image, and Video Requirements for submitting during the original Submission Period

i. Text Description: The text description should explain the features, functionality, and purchasing capabilities of your Skill.

ii. Images: Images or screenshots are optional.

iii. Video: The video portion of the Submission:

1. should be less than five (5) minutes;
2. should include appropriate disclosure on the video or text description that it is being posted as part of entry into the Competition (#AmazonAlexaConversationsChallenge);
3. must include footage that clearly explains the Skill’s features and functionality through a comprehensive demonstration;
4. must be uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook Video, or Youku and be made public, and a link to the video must be provided on the submission form on the Competition Website; and
5. must not include third party trademarks, or copyrighted music or other material unless the Maker has permission to use such material;
6. must not infringe on any third party’s intellectual property, including featuring names and images of people without their permission;
7. must comply with Amazon Community Guidelines; and
8. in the event a minor appears in the video, the minor should be the legal child of Maker. If Maker is not the parent or legal guardian of the child appearing in the video, Maker must obtain written consent from the parent/legal guardian to publicly feature the child in the video.

D. Submission Modifications during the original Submission Period

1. Draft Submissions: Prior to the end of the Submission Period, you may save draft versions of your Submission on Devpost to your portfolio before submitting the Submission materials to the Competition for evaluation. Once the Submission Period has ended, you may not make any changes or alterations to your Submission, but you may continue to update the project in your Devpost portfolio.
2. Modifications after the Submission Period. The Poster may permit you to modify part of your Submission after the Submission Period for the purpose of acquiring additional consent forms, adding the Competition hashtag to the demonstration video, or removing material that potentially infringes a third party mark or right, discloses personally identifiable information, or is otherwise inappropriate. The modified Submission must remain substantively the same as the original Submission with the only modification being what the Poster permits. The administrator may add the Competition hashtag to the demonstration video on behalf of the submitter.

5. SUBMISSION RIGHTS

i. Maker Rights: Subject to the licenses described below and granted in the Developer Agreement, any applicable intellectual property rights to a Submission will remain with the Maker.

ii. Administrator and Poster Rights: By entering the Competition, you grant to the Poster, Administrator, and any other third parties acting on the Poster’s behalf, a royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide perpetual license to display publicly and use for promotional purposes the Submission, in perpetuity. This license includes, but is not limited to, posting or linking to the Submission on Poster’s, Administrator’s, and partners’ websites and applications, including the Competition Website, and display and promotion of the Submission in any other media, worldwide.

iii. Submission Display: The following Submission components may be displayed to the public: name, description, images, video URL, website, team members, the Submission category and platform, and submitter type. Other Submission materials may be viewed by the Poster, Administrator, and Judges for screening and evaluation.

iv. Representations and Warranties: Makers represent and warrant that the Poster, Administrator, and Competition partners are free to use Makers’ Submission in the manner described above, as provided or as modified by the Administrator, without obtaining permission or license from any third party and without any compensation to Makers.

6. JUDGING

i. Judges: Eligible Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by the Poster (the “Judges”). Judges may be employees of the Poster or external, may or may not be listed individually on the Competition Website, and may change before or during the Judging Period.

Judging will take place in two rounds with two panels of Judges, selected at the discretion of the Poster. During the Finalist and Bonus Prize Judging Period, a panel of Judges will select ten (10) Finalist prize winners. During the Second Round Judging Period, a second panel of Judges will select the Grand Prize winner described below in Section 7.

ii. Criteria: During the Judging Periods, the panel of Judges will score eligible Submissions using the following with equally weighted criteria:

a. Quality of the Idea and premium offering (Including the uniqueness, creativity, and ingenuity of the Alexa Conversations feature)

b. Quality of the User Experience (Including whether the Conversations AI integrations perform as expected, ease of discovery, and more)

c. Potential Impact of the Idea (Including the extent to which the skill is widely useful, might be customizable, ability to be extended into other scenarios, etc.)

d. Quality of the Submission Package (including quality of the description, video demo, and any other materials submitted to Devpost)

(The above are collectively the “Judging Criteria”).

The Judging Criteria above may not apply to every Prize. See Section 7 below for the Judging Criteria that apply for each Prize. The Maker(s) that are eligible for a Prize, and whose Submissions earn the highest overall scores based on the applicable Judging Criteria, will become potential winners of that Prize.

iii. Submission Review: Judges are not required to test the Skill and may choose to judge based solely on the text description, images and video provided in the Submission.

iv. Tie Breaker: For each Prize listed in Section 7 below, if two or more Submissions are tied, the tied Submission with the highest score in the first applicable criterion listed above will be considered the higher scoring Submission. In the event any ties remain, this process will be repeated, as needed, by comparing the tied Submissions’ scores on the next applicable criterion. If two or more Submissions are tied on all applicable criteria, the panel of Judges will vote on the tied Submissions.

7. PRIZES

IMPORTANT NOTE ON MULTIPLE PRIZE ELIGIBILITY:  

• The Grand Prize winner may not win a Bonus Prize.
• A skill that is NOT the Grand Prize winner may be eligible to win up to one Bonus Prize AND up to one Finalist Prize
• A Finalist Prize winner may also win a Bonus Prize. A Bonus Prize may be awarded to a Skill that is not a Finalist Prize winner.
• Each Maker is limited to receiving one Participation Prize, regardless of the number of eligible Skills entered by the Maker. Participation Prizes will NOT be awarded to any Skill that also won a Bonus Prize, Finalist Prize, or Grand Prize.
• New: Each Maker may win multiple Bonus Participation Prizes, based on the number of eligible Skills entered by the Maker.

9. VERIFICATION OF POTENTIAL WINNERS

A. Verification Requirement: THE AWARD OF A PRIZE TO A POTENTIAL WINNER IS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION OF THE IDENTITY, QUALIFICATIONS AND ROLE OF THE POTENTIAL WINNER IN THE CREATION OF THE SUBMISSION. No submission or submitter shall be deemed a winning submission or winner until their post-competition prize affidavits have been completed and verified, even if prospective winners have been announced verbally or on the competition website. The final decision to designate a winner shall be made by the Poster and/or Administrator.

B. Required Forms: Potential winners will be notified using the email address associated with the Devpost account used to enter the Submission (the submitter is the “Representative” in the case of a Team or Organization). In order to receive a Prize, the potential winner (including all participating team members in the case of a Team or Organization) will be required to sign and return to the Administrator, affidavit(s) of eligibility (or a similar verification document) and liability/publicity release(s), and any applicable tax forms (“Required Forms”). Required Forms for any potential winner under the age of the majority in their country of residence will need to be completed and returned by the potential winner’s parent or legal guardian.

C. Deadline for Returning Required Forms: ten (10) business days after the Required Forms are sent.

D. Disqualification: The Administrator may deem a potential winner (or participating team members) ineligible to win if:

• the potential winner’s Representative or any participating member does not respond to multiple emails or fails to sign and return the Required Forms by the deadline listed above, or responds and rejects the Prize;
• the Prize or Prize notification is returned as undeliverable; or
• the Submission or the potential winner, or any member of a potential winner’s Team or Organization, is disqualified for any other reason.

In the event of a disqualification, the Administrator may award the applicable Prize to an alternate potential winner.

10. PRIZE DISTRIBUTION

i. Substitutions & Changes: The Administrator has the right to make a Prize substitution of equivalent or greater value. The Administrator will not award a Prize if there are no eligible Submissions entered in the Competition, or if there are no eligible Makers or Submissions for a specific Prize.

ii. Prize Delivery: Cash prizes will be payable to the Maker, if an individual, to the Maker’s Representative, if a Team, or to the Organization, if the Maker is an Organization. It will be the responsibility of the winning Maker’s Representative to allocate the Prize among their Team or Organization’s participating members, as the Representative deems appropriate.

Prizes will be payable to the Maker, if an individual, to the Maker’s Representative, if a Team, or to the Organization, if the Maker is an Organization. It will be the responsibility of the winning Maker’s Representative to allocate the Prize among their Team or Organization’s participating members, as the Representative deems appropriate. Prizes are payable via any means of the Poster or Administrator's choosing, whether electronic or not, and are payable only after receipt of the Required Forms. A winning Maker may be required to provide a mailing address, bank information, and/or create an account with an electronic payment provider of the Poster or Administrator’s choosing in order to receive payment.

Failure to provide correct information on the Required Forms, or other correct information required for the delivery of a Prize, may result in delayed Prize delivery, disqualification or the Maker, or forfeiture of a Prize.

Participation Prize and Bonus Participation Prize Delivery: Participation prizes will only be payable to eligible Skills Makers. Winners in the United States will receive a digital Amazon.com Gift Card deliverable via email. Winners outside of the United States will receive a transfer of an equal amount to a valid PayPal or Payoneer account. International prizes will not be delivered via any other means and it is the sole responsibility of the recipient to ensure that Devpost has the correct payment information. Participants will have sixty (60) days from the winner announcement to claim a participation prize. Inquiries about participation prizes will only be accepted through emails to support@devpost.com. Sponsor or administer may choose at their own discretion to substitute any awards via alternate means of the same value.

iii. Prize Delivery Timeframe: Within 45 days of the Administrator’s receipt of the Required Forms. Prizes for any potential winner under the age of the majority in their country of residence will be fulfilled to the potential winner’s parent or legal guardian.

iv. Fees & Taxes: Winners (and in the case of Team or Organization, all participating members) are responsible for any fees associated with receiving or using a prize, including but not limited to, wiring fees. Winners (and in the case of Team or Organization, all participating members) are responsible for reporting and paying all applicable taxes in their jurisdiction of residence (federal, state/provincial/territorial and local). Winners may be required to provide certain information to facilitate receipt of the award, including completing and submitting any tax or other forms necessary for compliance with applicable withholding and reporting requirements. United States residents are required to provide a completed form W-9 and residents of other countries are required to provide a completed W-8BEN form. Winners are also responsible for complying with foreign exchange and banking regulations in their respective jurisdictions and reporting the receipt of the Prize to relevant government departments/agencies, if necessary. The Poster, Administrator, and/or Prize provider reserve the right to withhold a portion of the prize amount to comply with the tax laws of the United States or other Poster jurisdiction, or those of a winner’s jurisdiction.

11. ENTRY CONDITIONS AND RELEASE

i. By entering the Competition, you (and, if you are entering on behalf of a Team or Organization, each participating member) agree(s) to the following:

1. The relationship between you, the Maker, and the Poster and Administrator, is not a confidential, fiduciary, or other special relationship.

2. You will be bound by and comply with these Official Rules and the decisions of the Poster, Administrator, and/or the Competition Judges which are binding and final in all matters relating to the Competition.

3. You release, indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Poster, Administrator, Promotion Entities, and their respective parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, the Prize suppliers and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Competition, and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (hereafter the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys’ fees), including but not limited to negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights, property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating to a Maker’s entry, creation of Submission or entry of a Submission, participation in the Competition, acceptance or use or misuse of the Prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of the Submission as authorized or licensed by these Official Rules.

ii. Without limiting the foregoing, the Released Parties shall have no liability in connection with:

1. any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by the Poster or Administrator’s electronic or printing error, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Competition;

2. technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines, internet connectivity or electronic transmission errors, or network hardware or software or failure of the Competition Website;

3. unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Competition;

4. technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Competition or the processing of Submissions; or

5. any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from the Maker’s participation in the Competition or receipt or use or misuse of any Prize.

The Released Parties are not responsible for incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, lost, illegible, or incomprehensible Submissions or for address or email address changes of the Makers. Proof of sending or submitting will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by the Poster or Administrator.

If for any reason any Maker’s Submission is determined to have not been received or been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, the Maker’s sole remedy is to request the opportunity to resubmit its Submission. Such request must be made promptly after the Maker knows or should have known there was a problem, and will be determined at the sole discretion of the Administrator.

12. PUBLICITY

By participating in the Competition you consent to the use of personal information about you, if you are a winner, by the Poster, Administrator, and third parties acting on their behalf. Such personal information includes, but is not limited to, your name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, comments and hometown and country of residence. It may be used in any existing or newly created media, worldwide without further payment or consideration or right of review, unless prohibited by law. Authorized use includes advertising and promotional purposes.

The duration of your consent is for a period of three years following the conclusion of the Competition. This consent applies, as applicable, to all members a Maker’s Team or Organization that participated in the winning Submission.

13. GENERAL CONDITIONS

1. Poster and Administrator reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Competition, or any part of it, in the event of a technical failure, fraud, or any other factor or event that was not anticipated or is not within their control.

2. Poster and Administrator reserve the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any individual or Maker it finds to be actually or presenting the appearance of tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Competition or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in a manner that is inappropriate, unsportsmanlike, not in the best interests of this Competition, or a violation of any applicable law or regulation.

3. Any attempt by any person to undermine the proper conduct of the Competition may be a violation of criminal and civil law. Should Poster or Administrator suspect that such an attempt has been made or is threatened, they reserve the right to take appropriate action including but not limited to requiring a Maker to cooperate with an investigation and referral to criminal and civil law enforcement authorities.

4. If there is any discrepancy or inconsistency between the terms and conditions of the Official Rules and disclosures or other statements contained in any Competition materials, including but not limited to the Submission form, Competition Website, advertising (including but not limited to television, print, radio or online ads), the terms and conditions of the Official Rules shall prevail.

5. The terms and conditions of the Official Rules are subject to change at any time, including the rights or obligations of the Maker, the Poster and the Administrator. The Administrator will post the terms and conditions of the amended Official Rules on the Competition Website. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any amendment will become effective at the time specified in the posting of the amended Official Rules or, if no time is specified, the time of posting.

6. If at any time prior to the deadline, a Maker or prospective Maker believes that any Official Rule is or may be unclear or ambiguous, they must submit a written request for clarification.

7. The Poster or Administrator’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Should any provision of these Official Rules be or become illegal or unenforceable in any jurisdiction whose laws or regulations may apply to a Maker, such illegality or unenforceability shall leave the remainder of these Official Rules, including the Rule affected, to the fullest extent permitted by law, unaffected and valid. The illegal or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision that comes closest and best reflects the Poster’s intention in a legal and enforceable manner with respect to the invalid or unenforceable provision.

8. Excluding Submissions, all intellectual property related to this Competition, including but not limited to copyrighted material, trademarks, trade-names, logos, designs, promotional materials, web pages, source codes, drawings, illustrations, slogans and representations are owned or used under license by the Poster and/or Administrator. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized copying or use of any copyrighted material or intellectual property without the express written consent of its owners is strictly prohibited. Any use in a Submission of Poster or Administrator intellectual property shall be solely to the extent provided for in these Official Rules.

14. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

By entering, all Makers (including, in the case of a Team or Organization, all participating members) agree to be bound by the Official Rules and hereby release the Released Parties from any and all liability in connection with the Prizes or Maker’s participation in the Competition. Provided, however, that any liability limitation regarding gross negligence or intentional acts, or events of death or body injury shall not be applicable in jurisdictions where such limitation is not legal.

15. DISPUTES

i. Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Competition, Maker agrees that:

1. any and all disputes and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Competition, or any Prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action lawsuit, and exclusively by final and binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association and held at the AAA regional office nearest the contestant;

2. the Federal Arbitration Act shall govern the interpretation, enforcement and all proceedings at such arbitration; and

3. judgment upon such arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.

ii. Under no circumstances will Maker be permitted to obtain awards for, and contestant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys’ fees, other than contestant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., costs associated with entering this Competition), and Maker further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

iii. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of Maker, Administrator and Poster in connection with this Competition, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the substantive laws of the State of New York, USA without regard to New York choice of law rules.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

16. ADDITIONAL TERMS THAT ARE PART OF THE OFFICIAL RULES

Please review the Devpost Terms of Service at https://info.devpost.com/hackathon_terms for additional rules that apply to your participation in the Competition and more generally your use of the Competition Website. Such Terms of Service are incorporated by reference into these Official Rules. If there is a conflict between the Terms of Service and these Official Rules, the latter terms shall control with respect to this Competition only.

Participation in the Competition constitutes Maker’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules. By entering, a Maker agrees that all decisions related to the Competition that are made pursuant to these Official Rules are final and binding, and that all such decisions are at the sole discretion of the Poster and/or Administrator.

The Administrator collects personal information from you when you enter the Competition. The information collected is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://info.devpost.com/privacy.

 Competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook.

17. CONTACT

If you have any questions or comment, or wish to send us any notice regarding this Competition, please email us at Support@Devpost.com.