Legal:Wikimedia General Contest Rules

From Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki

ELIGIBILITY

The Wikimedia Contest ("Contest") is open to individuals who are the age of majority and who have Internet access prior to the Contest start date ("Contestants") wherever restricted or prohibited by law. This Contest is sponsored by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 1 Montgomery Street, 1600, San Francisco, CA 94104 ("Sponsor"). Employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives of Sponsor, the legal, promotion and advertising agencies of any aforementioned entity, and their immediate family members (defined as spouse, mother, father, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, grandparents and in-laws, regardless of where they live) and those living in their household (whether or not related), and each person or entity connected with the production or administration of the Contest, and each parent company, affiliate, subsidiary, agent and representative of any aforementioned entity are not eligible. This Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws.

General Rules

These official rules apply generally to Contests linked to them by Sponsor. Specific details related to entry, prizing and other special terms for each specific sweepstakes promotion ("Specific Promotion") will be digitally posted on the landing page or social media post ("Landing Page") of the Specific Promotion and will outline any additional information or special notices relating to the Sweepstakes (the Official Rules and the Specific Promotion details, collectively these "Rules").

CONTEST PERIOD

All Specific Promotions shall include a "start" and "end" date on its Landing Page (the "Contest Submission Period"). All entries must be received by the end date and time to be eligible to win. The end time, unless otherwise noted, will always be 11:59PM, California time (regardless of Daylight Savings Time), according to Sponsor's internal time clock. Sponsor is not responsible for any misdirected or otherwise late entries. ALL ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED DURING THE CONTEST SUBMISSION PERIOD. By participating, Contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the judges and/or Sponsor, which are binding and final on matters relating to this Contest.

Agreement to Official Rules

By participating, you agree to be fully unconditionally bound by these Rules, and you represent and warrant that you meet the eligibility requirements set forth herein. In addition, you agree to accept the decisions of Sponsor, as final and binding, and waive any right to claim ambiguity in the Contest or these Rules.

Up to five (5) submissions per natural person per email address.

HOW TO ENTER

All Contests are Online Submissions only. Method of entry is specific to Contest Please see below for the details of the method of entry based on the Contest Type indicated in the Specific Promotion. Only the entry method specified in the Specific Promotion is allowed. All other entries will be disregarded. Unless otherwise noted, only one entry per natural person per Specific Promotion.

Create your own Banner Design according to the guidelines in the Specific Promotion and the Submission Guidelines section contained in these rules ("Submission Guidelines"). Once you have created your masterpiece, access the upload tab noted in the Specific Promotion during the Contest Submission Period, complete the Contest online entry form in its entirety, including all required contact information, and upload your Banner Design according to the directions on the screen (the "Submission"). All Contestants must license their Submissions pursuant to a Creative Commons License as outlined in the Submission Guidelines section of these rules.

PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

Take a photograph that meets the guidelines specified in the Specific Promotion and the Submissions Guidelines section contained in these rules ("Submission Guidelines). Once you have created your masterpiece, access the upload tab noted in the Specific Promotion during the Contest Submission Period, complete the Contest online entry form in its entirety, including all required contact information, and upload your Media according to the directions on the screen (the "Submission") The number of submissions for photography contests will be outlined in the Specific Promotion. All Contestants must license their Submissions pursuant to a Creative Commons License as outlined in the Submission Guidelines section of these rules.

PLATFORM SUBMISSION CONTEST

Write new text, modify existing text, edit data items, or otherwise modify content on the platform through its regular interface according to the guidelines in the Specific Promotion and Submissions Guidelines section contained in these rules ("Submission Guidelines) When you make a platform submission, include the hashtag or other tracking identifier listed in the Specific Promotion details in your edit summary or use the designated submission method as required by the Specific Promotion. Unless otherwise stated in the Specific Promotion, a single Platform Submission consists of the sum of all actions listed in section (a) performed by a single participant during the Contest Submission Period and identified using the hashtag, tracking identifier, or other designated submission method required by the Specific Promotion. Unless otherwise stated in the Specific Promotion, platform submissions must remain available to the public in a form substantially similar to the Submission (as determined in the sole discretion of the Organizers) for at least two (2) weeks from the date of submission.

General Submission Terms

All contact information must be current, accurate and valid. All Submissions must be received no later than the Contest End date as noted in the Specific Promotion, according to Sponsor's internal server time. No other methods of entry will be accepted. All Submissions received by the end of the Submission Period that are complete and otherwise qualified will be eligible to win ("Qualified Submissions"). Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any Contestant it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or violating these Official Rules. Entries may not be acknowledged and will not be returned. Sponsor is not responsible for incomplete, late, lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, void, corrupted, garbled, illegible, or unintelligible Submissions and those Submissions are void and will not be accepted, and Contestant will not be notified; nor is Sponsor responsible for any problems, bugs or malfunctions Contestants may encounter when seeking to enter their Submissions.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Your Submission should be creative and original. All Submissions must be created by the person who submits the entry.

Creative Commons License

All entrants must agree to license their Submission under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License or the license identified in the Specific Promotion. To learn more about this license, visit creativecommons.org.

Respect for Existing Copyright

You must be the original author of everything in your Submission or have permission to use copyright protected material included in your Submission. Please note that if the Submission uses existing music, video clips, photos, images, text or the like, odds are that someone else owns a copyright to that material and you will need to get the copyright owner's permission before using the material in your banner. By entering, you warrant that your design does not infringe any third party's rights, and that you have obtained all necessary permissions from all relevant third parties to submit the Submission. If, in the sole discretion of Sponsor, your Submission constitutes copyright infringement, the Submission will be disqualified. Contestant must hold all rights to the entire Submission. Any images contained in any Submission must be used with proper permission. Contestant agrees to indemnify Sponsor against any and all claims of infringement from any third party for any use by Sponsor of the design Submission. Contestants may not be: 1) represented under contract that would limit or impair Sponsor's ability to use the design in any media form; 2) are under a merchandising agreement; or 3) are under any other contractual relationship, including but not limited to guild and/or union memberships, that may prohibit them from participating fully in this promotion, or from allowing Sponsor to use royalty-free, the Submission worldwide in all media in perpetuity. No Submission may depict any offensive or obscene subject matter as determined in our sole discretion. We ask that your Submission not portray Sponsor in a negative light. We reserve the right to exclude any design that we believe does not meet the above criteria, at our sole discretion.

JUDGING

Judging will be completed in two (2) rounds.

ROUND ONE: Screening Round

On or about 24 hours after the close of the Contest, a panel of qualified judges will conduct judging of all Qualified Submissions received during the Contest Period. Unless otherwise noted in the Specific Promotion, each submission will be judged on the following criteria: Creativity (35 points) Prominence of the Theme within the design (35 points) Originality (30 points) In the event of a tie, double value will be given to the Creativity criteria. All entries will be prescreened to ensure the entries have correctly met the Submission Guidelines and meet with Sponsor's general standards and practices prior to any judging. ("Qualified Submissions"). At any time before, during or after the Contest Period, Sponsor may, in its discretion, choose to post or distribute one (1) or more Submissions online (including on our website, and third-party websites) or on other media for promotional purposes only. Posting of this/these Submission(s) will not mean that said Submissions are a Selected Contestant.

ROUND TWO: Contributions Round

Unless otherwise noted in the Specific Promotion, 48 hours after the first round judging, the final round of judging will begin ("Final Round") for the finalists chosen in the first round of judging ("Finalist"). The number of Finalists and number of eventual winners will be outlined in the Specific Promotion. In cases where the final judging Finalists will be judged based upon a form of public voting, the voting period will be listed in the Specific Promotion. The judging criteria listed in the Specific Promotion, and will be one of the following:

Most Contributions. The Finalist entries that generate the most contributions will be deemed winners ("Selected Contestants").

Most Votes. The top Finalist entries that generate the most votes will be subjected to a review by judges who will make a final determination of the winners ("Selected Contestants").

Highest Scores. The Finalist entries that generate the highest scores from a second round of judging will be deemed the winners ("Selected Contestants").

In the event of a tie, those entries will be rescored using the round one to determine the winner using the same judging criteria that was used in the screening process in order to determine Finalists.

Any Submission that is considered by Sponsor in its sole discretion to be obscene, libelous, inapposite to the reputation of Sponsor, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate, or which otherwise does not comply with these Official Rules will be disqualified. Except as otherwise stated in these Official Rules, personal information collected in connection with this Contest will be used in accordance with Sponsor's privacy policy, and with the consent given by Contestant at the time of entering a Submission. Any communication or information transmitted to Sponsor and/or the Website by electronic mail or otherwise is and will be treated as non-confidential and nonproprietary. Proof of submitting any Submission is not considered proof of delivery to or receipt of such Submission. Furthermore, Sponsor shall have no liability for any Submission that is lost, intercepted or not received by the Sponsor. Winners will be announced on or around four weeks after the close of the Contest Submission Period.

PRIZES

Prizes are as outlined in the Specific Promotion and will be awarded to the top Selected Contestants.

Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") of each prize and the total ARV will be listed in the Specific Promotion.

Unless otherwise specified in the Specific Promotion, Selected Contestants will be notified by either phone or email at the sole discretion of Sponsor or Sponsor's representative. Selected Contestants will be required to respond (as directed) to a phone and/or e-mail notification within 72 hours of attempted notification. The failure to respond timely to the notification may result in forfeiture of the prize; and, in such case, Sponsor may choose the next highest scoring Submission from among the remaining eligible submissions. Selected Contestants will be required to sign and return a Declaration of Eligibility and Liability/Publicity Release ("Declaration") and any other documents Sponsor or Sponsor's representative may require within 72 hours of receipt of the Affidavit. Failure to timely return a signed Affidavit or other required documents or the return of any prize notification as undeliverable will result in Prize forfeiture. Federal and state income taxes may apply and are the sole responsibility of the winner. All expenses not specifically stated as being included are excluded, and are the responsibility of the Selected Contestants. No assignment, transfer or substitution of Prize is permitted, but Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize for one of comparable or greater value should Prize become impracticable to award or unavailable for any reason. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of Selected Contestant and US Contestants may be issued an IRS Form 1099 for the ARV of any awarded prize.

All potential prize winners must provide Sponsor with all signatures on required paperwork and return all documents in a timely manner as required pursuant to these Official Rules in order to be eligible to receive the prize. Contestants may not resell, assign or transfer any of their rights in their Submissions under these Official Rules.

CONDITIONS

Contest is subject to these Official Rules. By participating, Contestants agree: (i) to be bound by these complete Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor which shall be final and binding; and (ii) to waive any right to claim ambiguity in the Contest or these Official Rules, except where prohibited by law. By accepting a prize, Selected Contestant agrees to release Sponsor, including its parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities together with the respective directors, employees, officers, licensees, licensors and agents, and respective advertising and promotion entities and any person or entity associated with the production, judging, or administration of the Contest (collectively, the "Releasees") from any and all liability, loss or damage arising from or in connection with awarding, receipt and/or use or misuse of prize or participation in any prize-related activities. Releases shall not be liable for: (i) telephone system, telephone or computer hardware, software or other technical or computer malfunctions, lost connections, disconnections, delays or transmission errors; (ii) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of entry or other materials; (iii) any injuries, losses or damages of any kind, including death caused by the prize or resulting from acceptance, possession or use of a prize, or from participation in the Contest; or (iv) any printing, typographical, administrative or technological errors in any materials associated with the Contest. Sponsor disclaims any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participating in, or accessing or downloading information in connection with this Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend the Contest, in its sole discretion, should it receive fewer than 50 entries, or receive no entries that have a judged score above 60 points, or due to circumstances beyond its control, including natural disasters. Submissions will not be returned and may be destroyed. The internal laws of the State of California will govern disputes regarding these Official Rules and/or this Contest. All cases and claims pertaining to this Contest must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the City of San Francisco.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend the Contest should a virus, bug, computer problem, unauthorized intervention or other causes beyond Sponsor's control, corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the Contest. Sponsor may prohibit an entrant from participating in the Contest or winning prize if, in its sole discretion, it determines such entrant is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest in any way by cheating, hacking, deception, or any other unfair playing practices of intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other players or Sponsor representatives. Use of automated entry devices or programs is prohibited. Any attempts to access the site, enter the Contest or increase votes or views via a bot script, device or brute-force attack will result in disqualification, including that IP address becoming ineligible for the entire Contest. Caution: any attempt to deliberately damage or undermine the legitimate operation of the contest may be in violation of criminal and civil laws and will result in disqualification from participation in the contest. Should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek remedies and damages (including attorney fees) to the fullest extent of the law, including criminal prosecution.

PUBLICITY

By participating, entrants agree that Sponsor, its shareholders, agents and representatives, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion and fulfillment agencies, and legal advisors are not responsible or liable for, and shall be released and held harmless from any and all losses, damages, rights, claims and actions of any kind in connection with or resulting from participation in the Contest, or acceptance of the prize, including without limitation, claims based on publicity rights, defamation, or invasion of privacy. Sponsor reserves the right to use the Submissions to the Contest for publicity purposes prior to, during, or after the Contest end date, in any media, and to use the name, likeness, hometown name, of any Contestant, including all or part of their design throughout the world, in perpetuity, without any compensation or prior review unless specifically prohibited by law. Contestants will not be paid for their Submissions or for granting Sponsor any of these rights. Should any Selected Contestant be unwilling or otherwise unable to provide permissions and or releases or otherwise cannot accept or receive the prize for any reason, the Selected Contestant with the next highest score will be chosen from the remaining entries until one who is able to meet all requirements can be selected.

WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL

Except as prohibited by applicable law and as a condition of participating in this Contest, each Contestant hereby irrevocably and perpetually waives any right s/he may have to a trial by jury in respect of any litigation directly or indirectly arising out of, under or in connection with this contest, any document or agreement entered into in connection herewith, any prize available in connection herewith, and any of the transactions contemplated hereby or thereby.

PRIVACY

All personal information collected by Sponsor will be used for administration of the Contest. In addition, Contestants may receive email correspondence from, or on behalf of Sponsor, via electronic communication. All personal information will be held on servers located in the United States. Sponsor will use reasonable commercial efforts to comply with Federal CAN-SPAM guidelines, and Contestants may subsequently opt-out of receiving further emails by following the opt-out instructions contained in any email communications received. Any questions regarding privacy matters should be directed to: [1].

OFFICIAL RULES and WINNERS LIST

For a copy of these Official Rules or of the winner(s) of any promotion, send your request via email to [email address]. You must put the title of the Contest in the Request and the request must be received within 90 days of the Contest end date. Please allow a reasonable time for a response.