OFFICIAL RULES

PLEASE NOTE: It is your sole responsibility to comply with your employer’s gift policies. If your participation violates your employer’s policies, you may be disqualified. Microsoft disclaims any and all liability and will not be party to any disputes or actions related to this matter.

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible.

CHALLENGE DESCRIPTION

The Challenge will be conducted at the Skype Bot Palo Alto Hackathon in Palo Alto, CA (the “Event”). The Challenge includes a Contest of skill, where winners will be selected by a panel of judges (“Judges”) and a Sweepstakes in which a winner will be randomly selected at the closing awards ceremony.

ENTRY PERIOD

This Challenge starts at approximately 9am on June 21, 2016, and ends at approximately 7pm on June 22, 2016 (“Entry Period”) and will be conducted during regular Event hours. Entries must be received within the Entry Period to be eligible.

CAN I ENTER?

You are eligible to enter if you meet the following requirements at time entry:

  • You are a registered Event attendee, 18 years of age or older. Minors must have permission from a parent / legal guardian who must accept these rules on the minor’s behalf; and

  • You are NOT a resident of any of the following countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

    • PLEASE NOTE: U.S. export regulations prohibit the export of goods and services to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Therefore, residents of these countries / regions are not eligible to participate.

  • You are NOT Event exhibitor support personnel; and

  • You are NOT an employee of Microsoft Corporation, or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary; and

  • You are NOT an immediate family (parent, sibling, spouse/domestic partner, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, any person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Challenge.

This Challenge is void where prohibited by law.

HOW TO ENTER?

To enter the Contest, participate in the Event by creating and submitting a software application that runs automated tasks over the Internet using the Microsoft Bot Framework for Skype (a “Bot”), or developing and submitting a concept for a Bot (“Bot Concept”). You must bring any hardware and software required to enter; Sponsor will provide all Entrants with Wi-Fi internet access.

Entrants must provide a live demonstration of their Bot or Bot Concept.

The Bot, or Bot Concept, the presentation materials and the presentation made to the judging panel will collectively be referred to as an Entry. You may enter as an individual or as a team of up to five (5) people. All team members must be listed on Entry materials and all members must accept the Official rules. Once the Contest commences you may not leave a team, join a team or trade team members without express permission from the Judges.

Entries will be judged in different Categories based on its stage of product development at the start of the Contest. If more than a nominal amount of development happens prior to the Event, the Entry will be submitted in the Hackathon-Ready Category. If the majority of the development happens during the Event the Entry will be submitted in the Hackathon-Created Category. Within each Category, one First prize will be awarded for Most Innovative and one First Prize will be awarded for Most Creative.

In addition, all Event attendees will be invited to vote for the one Entry they believe best meets the judging criteria below to receive the People’s Choice prize. Limit one First prize and one People’s Choice prize per person.

Limit one entry per individual or team. We are not responsible for lost, stolen or incomplete Entries. We reserve the right to disqualify any Entry not meeting these Official Rules.

To enter the Sweepstakes, submit a Contest Entry and then attend the Awards Ceremony at 5pm on June 22, 2016 at the Skype Palo Alto Office (“Awards Ceremony”) and be present when the Sweepstakes winner is announced. Limit one entry per person and must be present to win.

WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ELIGIBLE ENTRY?

To be eligible an Entry must meet the following content / technical requirements:

  • Comply with the Bot Platform Terms of Use and Bot Review Guidelines.

  • your entry must be your own original work; and

  • your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other contest; and

  • you must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for you to submit your entry; and

  • your entry may not include any material that infringes third party IP. You may include Microsoft trademarks, logos, and designs, for which Microsoft grants you a limited license to use for the sole purposes of submitting an entry into this Challenge.

We reserve the right to reject any entry, in our sole and absolute discretion, that we determine does not meet the above criteria.

HOW WILL MY ENTRY BE POTENTIALLY USED?

Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting your entry, you:

  • are granting us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to: (i) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this Challenge; and (ii) feature your entry and all content in connection with the marketing, sale, or promotion of this Challenge (including but not limited to internal and external sales meetings, conference presentations, tradeshows, and screen shots of the Challenge entry in press releases) in all media (now known or later developed) as well as other future Challenges;

  • agree to sign any necessary documentation that may be required for us and our designees to make use of the rights you granted above;

  • understand and acknowledge that the Sponsor(s) may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your submission and you waive any claims you may have resulting from any similarities to your entry;

  • understand that we cannot control the incoming information you will disclose to our representatives in the course of entering, or what our representatives will remember about your entry. You also understand that we will not restrict work assignments of representatives who have had access to your entry. By entering this Challenge, you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under this agreement or copyright or trade secret law;

  • understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these Official Rules

Please note that following the end of this Challenge your entry may be posted on a website selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry.

If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this Challenge. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Microsoft retains all rights, title, and interest in and to any materials licensed under the Bot Framework Terms of Use.

WINNER SELECTION

One potential (pending confirmation of eligibility) Most Innovative First Prize winner and one potential Most Creative First Prize winner will be selected in each Category by the Judges based on the following criteria:

Productivity Bots (helps one learn and get things done):

Originality: How unique is the Bot compared to those existing in the market? (20%)

Usefulness: Does the Bot solve a stated problem? (40%)

Functionality: Functionality of the Bot or Bot Concept when submitted, and potential for the of the Bot or Bot Concept to reach market (40%)

Fun Bots (helps one have fun and connect with the world):

Originality: How unique is the Bot compared to those existing in the market? (20%)

Usefulness: Does the Bot solve a stated problem? (40%)

Functionality: Functionality of the Bot or Bot Concept when submitted, and potential for the of the Bot or Bot Concept to reach market (40%)

People’s Choice:

One overall People’s Choice Winner will be selected based on public voting by Event attendees. Limit one vote per person. We reserve the right to void any suspect, excess or ineligible votes at Judges sole discretion.

In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, an additional judge will break the tie based on the judging criteria described above. The decisions of the judges are final and binding. If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of Challenge Prizes described below.

Sweepstakes:

One potential Sweepstakes prize winner will be selected at random from among all eligible Contest Entrants present at the Awards Ceremony at the time of winner announcement. Your odds of winning are based on the number of eligible entries received.

PRIZES

The Challenge

(4) First Prize: $5,000 cash, paid in the form of a check from the Sponsor or their Agent.

(1) People’s Choice Prize: $5,000 cash.

Prizes will be divided equally among registered Team members, and Microsoft is not liable for any disputes regarding prize distribution.

The Sweepstakes

(10) Sweepstakes Prize: $500

The total Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of all prizes: $30,000.

WINNER NOTIFICATION

First Prize, People’s Choice and Sweepstakes winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony.

Must be present to win. If a potential winner is not present when the announcement is made, they will be disqualified and an alternate potential winner will be selected. A prize will be awarded to each winner within thirty (30) days after winner verification. The prize winner will be required to execute an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release within seven (7) days following the date of attempted notification.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

Taxes on the prize, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. No substitution, transfer, or assignment of prize permitted, except that Microsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event the offered prize is unavailable. Prize winners may be required to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and W-9 tax form or W-8 BEN tax form within 10 days of notification. If you complete a tax form, you will be issued an IRS 1099 the following January, for the actual value of the prize. You are advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. If a selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim a prize or fails to return the Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release or W-8 BEN form, the selected winner will forfeit their prize and an alternate winner will be selected. In the event of a dispute all decisions of Microsoft are final.

By entering this Challenge, you agree:

  • To abide by these Official Rules; and

  • To release and hold harmless Microsoft and its respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this Challenge or any prize won; and

  • That by accepting a prize, Microsoft may use of your proper name and state of residence online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this Challenge, without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.

WHAT IF SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS AND THE CHALLENGE CAN’T RUN AS PLANNED?

If someone cheats, or a virus, bug, bot, catastrophic event, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, (also referred to as force majeure) affects the fairness and / or integrity of this Challenge, we reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this Challenge. This right is reserved whether the event is due to human or technical error. If a solution cannot be found to restore the integrity of the Challenge, we reserve the right to select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Challenge.

If you attempt or we have strong reason to believe that you have compromised the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Challenge by cheating, hacking, creating a bot or other automated program, or by committing fraud in ANY way, we may seek damages from you to the fullest extent permitted by law. Further, we may disqualify you, and ban you from participating in any of our future Challenges, so please play fairly.

WINNERS LIST AND SPONSOR

To receive a list of winners, send an email with the subject line “Skype PA Hackathon winners” to bothelp@microsoft.com by July 22, 2016.

This Challenge is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

At Microsoft, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Microsoft uses the information you provide to notify prize winners, and to send you information about other Microsoft products and services, if requested by you. Microsoft will not share the information you provide with third parties without your permission except where necessary to complete the services or transactions you have requested, or as required by law. Microsoft is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Your personal information is never shared outside the company without your permission, except under conditions explained above.

If you believe that Microsoft has not adhered to this statement, please notify us by sending email to bothelp@microsoft.com or postal mail to Microsoft Privacy, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052 USA, and we will use commercially reasonable efforts to remedy the situation.