Minds + Machines Hackathon, by GE Digital

Minds + Machines Hackathon, by GE Digital

OFFICIAL RULES

1. LEGAL TERMS

By attending, and making a Submission (as defined herein) to the Minds + Machines Hackathaon, by GE Digital (the “Hackathon” or “Competition”), you are agreeing to be bound by the following legal terms (“Official Rules”). The Official Rules also incorporate by reference the additional terms specified at https://mindsmachinesberlin.devpost.com (the “Hackathon Website”). THESE OFFICIAL RULES SUPERSEDE ANY OTHER RULES AND TERMS & CONDITIONS ON THE WEBSITE OF ADMINISTRATOR DEVPOST OR ANY OTHER ADVERTISEMENT TO THE EXTENT THERE IS ANY CONFLICT OF TERMS. 

2. SPONSORS; ADMINISTRATOR

The Hackathon is sponsored by General Electric Company (“GE”), 3135 Easton Parkway, Fairfield, CT 06828. The Hackathon Website is administered by Devpost, Inc. (“Administrator”), 222 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10038. Administrator Devpost and GE collectively are referred to as “Hackathon Sponsors” or “Sponsors” or “Posters.”

3. HACKATHON LOCATION & SCHEDULE

• The Hackathon is an in-person event and will take place at: Westhafen Event & Convention Center, Westhafenstraße 1, Sektor B, Halle 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
• Individuals and teams must register on the Minds + Machines conference website prior to the Hackathon. Please register here: http://invent.ge/MMhack. The cost to register is €50 per person, or €250 per team of up to five people. Select attendee type “hackathon” when you register. The Hackathon will take place on a docked boat at the conference venue. Space on the boat is limited so please ensure to arrive early, to secure your spot for hacking.
• Submission must be made by 2:00 PM CEST on June 13, 2017.
• The Hackathon submission period commences at 9am CEST on June 12, 2017 and ends at 2pm CEST on June 13, 2017. The winners of the Hackathon shall be announced on or about 5pm CEST on June 13, 2017.

4. HACKATHON CATEGORIES

Your application must solve for a challenge for decarbonization in one of the following two categories (the “Categories”). 

A. Challenge 1: Electrification. Electric vehicles, distributed renewable energy, and electric building heating can drive decarbonization and economic value.  The grid needs to keep up!  Innovate solutions for electrification, and evaluate decarbonization impact. Sample solutions: Renewable energy resource siting; electric heating & conversion to heat pumps analysis; EV charger siting; renewable energy integration.

B. Challenge 2: Advanced Manufacturing. Reducing the weight of aircraft components can drastically reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. This implies manufacturing a new generation of aeronautics elementary parts. Access manufacturing data to optimize manufacturing processes, and decarbonize flight by accelerating the commissioning of a new generation of aircrafts. Sample solutions: Forecast manufacturing delays based on parts complexity; detect delay drifts and optimize critical production rescheduling.

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. Submissions in each Category are eligible for different prizes. See Section 16 for prize details.

5. GENERAL INFORMATION

Participation is subject to all national, state and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. You are responsible for checking applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction before participating in the Hackathon to make sure that your participation is legal. You are responsible for abiding by your employer's policies regarding participation in the Hackathon and ensuring that your Submission does not violate any policies set by your company/employer. You are further responsible for ensuring that your participation in the Hackathon and your Submission does not violate any contractual obligations or other legal obligation you may have regarding confidentiality or intellectual property ownership to your company/employer. Sponsors disclaim any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between you and your employer related to this Hackathon. You are responsible for all taxes and reporting related to any award that you may receive as part of the Hackathon. You may be subject to background screening as needed to assure the Sponsors’ legal compliance.

6. ELIGIBILITY

The Hackathon is open to individuals over the age of 18 who are registered as per the terms set out above and are able to attend the Hackathon in-person (“Eligible Individuals”) and teams including up to five (5) Eligible Individuals (“Teams”). Teams may enter on behalf of an organization, provided they have authorization to do so. Organizations include corporations, not-for-profit corporations and other nonprofit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other legal entities (“Organizations”). Eligible Individuals, Teams, and Organizations are referred to collectively herein as “Makers or “Participants.”

Eligible Individuals and Teams may enter only one Submission to the Hackathon. An Eligible Individual may join only one Team and an Eligible Individual who is part of a Team may not enter the Hackathon on an individual basis.

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

Additionally, the following constituents are NOT eligible to enter or win prizes:

A. Individuals directly involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Hackathon, and each member of their immediate family or household*;

B. Employees of the Poster, Administrator, and any of their respective affiliates or subsidiaries.

C. Any Judge (defined below), or company or individual that employs a Judge;

D. Any individual or organization whose participation in the Hackathon would create, in the sole discretion of the Poster, a real or apparent conflict of interest.

E. Any individual or organization that resides in, or is domiciled in, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria.

*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.

You are solely responsible for all equipment, as well as all costs incurred by you or on your behalf associated with attending and participating in the Hackathon, including but not necessarily limited to, a computer and modem necessary to establish a connection to the World Wide Web.

7. HOW TO ENTER

• This is a private Hackthon. Eligible Individuals and Teams must register on the Minds + Machines conference website prior to the Hackathon. Please register here: http://invent.ge/MMhack. The cost to register is €50 per Eligible Individual, or €250 per Team of up to five (5) people. Select attendee type “hackathon” when you register. The Hackathon will take place on a docked boat at the conference venue. Space on the boat is limited so please ensure to arrive early, to secure your spot for hacking.
• Build a solution on Predix, the industrial IoT platform. Participants’ solutions must use the Predix platform and services, as their primary IoT platform. Solutions should incorporate the Predix Developer Kit which will be supplied at the hackathon.
• Create a FREE Predix account, agree to the Predix terms and conditions in connection with the free account, and check out the tutorials. This can be created by completing the form at https://www.predix.io/registration/. All of the registration information that you provide is collectively referred to as your "Predix Account." Your Devpost Account and Predix Account are collectively referred to as “Accounts.”
• Access FREE training provided for registered participants (see FAQfor details). Predix skills are required to be successful, but are easy to learn for experienced developers. You will need to know common programming languages (e.g. Java, JavaScript, Python), RESTful APIs, Cloud Foundry PaaS, OAuth. Prior IoT skills are welcome, but not required.
• Register for the Hackathon on the Hackathon 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.
• Complete and enter all of the required fields on the “Enter a Submission” page of the Hackathon Website (each a “Submission”) during the Hackathon Submission Period, and follow the requirements below.

By making a Submission, you agree that (a) your Accounts are complete, correct and accurate and (b) your registration may be rejected or terminated and any Submission submitted by you may be disqualified if any of the information in your Accounts are (or Sponsors have reasonable grounds to believe it is) incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate.

You are solely responsible for your Accounts. Registration information is collected by Devpost in the United States, on behalf of the Poster, and may be transferred elsewhere globally as needed for the purposes of the Hackathon and the Posters’ business purposes.

All Entries must be in English. Entry attachments may be submitted in .pdf, .xls, .xlsx, .doc, docx, .ppt, or .pptx formats. Multiple files must be submitted as a single .zip file. Links to publicly available online videos (e.g., YouTube) can be included in your Entry. There is a maximum limit of 35MB for your complete Entry, including supplemental attachments.

Poster is not responsible for (a) late, lost, stolen, damaged, garbled, incomplete, incorrect or misdirected Entries or other communications, (b) errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, or delays in operations or transmission of information, in each case whether arising by way of technical or other failures or malfunctions of computer hardware, software, communications devices, or transmission lines, or (c) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of Entry materials, loss or other issues related to data such as quality, access or security. Posters are not responsible for electronic communications or emails which are undeliverable as a result of any form of active or passive filtering of any kind, or insufficient space in any email account to receive email messages. Posters disclaim any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participation in, or accessing or downloading of information in connection with, the Hackathon.

Posters shall have the right to remove any blog comment or posting related to the Hackathon from the Hackathon Website in their sole discretion at any time and for any reason.

BY REGISTERING FOR THE HACKATHON, YOU ACCEPT THE CONDITIONS STATED IN THESE OFFICIAL RULES, AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE DECISIONS OF THE HACKATHON JUDGES AND WARRANT THAT YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HACKATHON. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT ALL OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES, THEN DO NOT SUBMIT AN ENTRY TO THE HACKATHON. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU PRINT A COPY OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE.

8. HACKATHON OBJECTIVE

The objective of the Minds + Machines Hackathon is to develop new solutions on GE's Predix platform to take decarbonization and sustainability to the next level.

9. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS

Makers will submit Submissions via instructions on the Hackathon Website.

Makers must build and submit a working web or mobile web application on GE’s Predix Platform. Submitted applications must use Predix platform and services, as their primary IoT platform (each an “Application”). See additional Application Requirements below in Section 8A.

Additional requirements for the Submission, are noted below:

A. Application Requirements

(i) Platforms: The Application must be accessible via an active URL and run on a mobile or desktop web browser.

(ii) Testing: The Maker must make the Application available free of charge and without any restriction, for testing, evaluation and use by the Poster, Administrator and judges during the Hackathon and until Judging ends. Makers must provide an active URL for accessing the Application on the Enter a Submission form and the Maker must continue to host the Application at the submitted URL until Hackathon winners are announced. The Poster reserves the right to request proof that the required components of a submitted Application were utilized and may request to see Application source code, Predix Account Information, or other information for verification purposes.

(iii) Functionality: The Application must function as depicted in other Submission materials. All Applications must be usable by the intended end user with existing technologies within the near term. Please NOTE: Applications must not rely on a technology that is not yet publicly announced or introduced in the market or subject to any third party obligation of confidentiality.

(iv) New & Existing Applications: Makers may submit an Application that was newly created by the Maker for the Hackathon, or existed before the Hackathon Submission Period, provided the Application meets all of the Hackathon requirements. However, the Judges will focus on Application content developed during the Hackathon. 

(v) Data, SDKs, & APIs: Applications may utilize data from publicly available sources in addition to GE Predix services, and may integrate SDKs, or APIs, provided the Maker is authorized to use them.

(vi) Financial or Preferential Support: An Application MAY have been developed, or derived from an Application developed, with financial or preferential support from the Poster. Such Applications 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 prior to the Hackathon.

B. General Submission Requirements

(i) Limit One Submission Per Eligible Individual or Team: An Eligible Individual or Team may not submit more than one Submission to the Hackathon. If an Eligible Individual or Team submits more than one Submission, the Poster will require the Eligible Individual or Team to choose one of the Submissions to enter.

(ii) Language Requirements: All Submission materials must be in English or, if not in English, the Maker must provide an English translation of the Submission materials.

(iii) Text Description: The text description should explain the features and functionality of your Application.

(iv) Images: Makers must submit at least one image of their Application. The image(s) should be photographs or screenshots of your working Application. 

(v) Video: Makers are not required to submit a demonstration video. If the Maker chooses to submit a video, the video portion of the Submission: 

a. should be less than five (5) minutes;

b. should include footage that clearly explains the Application’s features and functionality through a comprehensive demonstration;

c. should be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo, and

d. must not include third party trademarks, or copyrighted music or other content unless the Maker has permission to use such material for commercial purposes without incurring any legal obligation on the Posters.

(vi) 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 Organization with no other person or entity having any right or interest in it; and (c) not violate the intellectual property rights or other rights including but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrecy, contract, and/or privacy rights, of any other person or entity. A Maker may submit a Submission that includes the use of Open Source Software or hardware as defined below, provided the Maker complies the requirements of this section.

By entering the Hackathon you represent, warrant, and agree that your Submission meets these requirements.

“Open Source Software” means any software code that is distributed as “open source software” or “freeware” or is otherwise distributed publicly or made generally ‎available in ‎source code form under terms that permit modification and redistribution of such ‎software on the condition that if such software code is redistributed that it be (i) disclosed or distributed in source code form; (ii) licensed for the purpose of making derivative works; or (iii) distributed at no charge, including but not limited to, software licensed or distributed under any of the collection of Open Source Initiative (“OSI”) approved licenses.

For any final Submission to be eligible to win prizes in the Hackathon, all Open Source Software or third party code or other materials used in connection with that submission must be limited to code that Poster will be legally entitled to commercially use and exploit in any fashion at no additional cost to the Poster and that will not in any way or in any Poster use case: (i) create, or purport to create, obligations of Poster with respect to the Poster’s programs; or (ii) grant, or purport to grant, to any third party any rights to or immunities under Poster’s intellectual property or proprietary rights in Poster’s programs.  Open Source Software that is under the BSD, MIT, Creative Commons – Attribution (CC BY), Microsoft Public License (MS-PL), Python Software Foundation License, or Apache Software License v 2.0 license will be accepted in a Submission (the “Allowable Open Source Licenses”).  Other open source software that is covered by licenses that are not in the list of Allowable Open Source Licenses shall not be included in any Submission unless, prior to submission, that particular open source software component’s license and intended use case have been approved in writing by the Poster.  In addition to the aforementioned requirements related to Open Source Software, all Submissions of Open Source Software must be in material compliance with all terms and conditions of the applicable licenses governing its use (e.g. providing downstream recipients with required copyright attribution, copies of Open Source Licenses, etc.).

C. Submission Modifications

(i) Draft Submissions: Prior to the end of the Hackathon Submission Period, you may save draft versions of your Submission on Devpost to your portfolio before submitting the Submission materials to the Hackathon 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.

(ii) Modifications After the Hackathon Submission Period. The Poster may permit you to modify part of your Submission after the Hackathon Submission Period for the purpose of 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.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

A. Maker Rights: Subject to applicable law, any invention assignment agreements the Maker may have with their employer, and the licenses described below, any applicable intellectual property rights to a Submission will remain with the Maker.

B. Poster Rights: By entering the Hackathon, you grant to the Poster, Poster’s Partners, 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 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 Hackathon Website, and display and promotion of the Submission in any other media, worldwide.

C. Submission Display: The following Submission components may be displayed to the public: name, description, images, video URL, website, URL, 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.
 
D. Makers represent and warrant that the Poster, Administrator, and Hackathon 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.
 
E. You agree that nothing in the Official Rules grants you a right or license to use any Poster or Administrator name, trademark or service mark.
 
F. You acknowledge that we, other entrants or others may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your Submission, or may develop something similar in the future, and you waive any claims you may have resulting from any similarities to your Submission.
 
G. You understand that Posters cannot control the information you disclose to us or our representatives in the course of participating in the Hackathon, or what we or 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 Submission. By participating in the Hackathon, you agree that we may use any information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services without liability or compensation to you. You understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit from us for use of your Submission  in connection with this Hackathon. This provision does not limit any compensation you may receive through us or third parties as a result of your use or marketing or profiting from the application beyond this Hackathon or as provided in these Official Rules. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your Entry by those accessing or viewing your Entry. 

11. BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

The intent of the Hackathon is to encourage people to suggest their ideas and innovations to Sponsors. Mere participation in this Hackaton does not create an obligation on either your part or Posters’ part to negotiate or enter into any business relationship or to sign any commercial agreement.

12. PRIVACY & PUBLICITY

The Administrator collects personal information from you when you enter the Hackathon. Personal data you provide in your Entry in connection with your Entry will be used for purposes described in the Official Rules and used and protected as governed by the Privacy Policy posted on the GE Website athttp://www.ge.com/privacy and Devpost at https://info.devpost.com/privacy.  

By participating in the Hackathon you consent to the use of personal information about you. If you are a winner, you consent to the use of your personal information by the Poster, Poster’s Partners, 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 Hackathon. This consent applies, as applicable, to all members of a Maker’s Team or Organization that participated in the winning Submission.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY

Sponsors do not wish to receive any confidential information and also hereby state that with respect to your Submissions, no confidential relationship is established between Sponsors and you, the Organization you represented when submitting a Submission, or the owner of any part of your Submission. 

14. WARRANTIES

By making a Submission, you represent and warrant that all information in your Submission and all information that you submit via the Hackathon Website is true and complete to the best of your knowledge, that you have the right and authority to submit the Submission and disclose the information therein on your own behalf or on behalf of the persons and entities that you specify within the Submission, and that your Submission (both the information and materials submitted in the Submission and the underlying technology/method/idea described in the Submission):

(a) is your own original work and representative of your capability, or is submitted by permission with full and proper credit given within your Submission;

(b) does not contain confidential information or trade secrets (yours or anyone else’s);

(c) does not, to the best of your knowledge, violate or infringe upon the patent rights, industrial design rights, copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity;

(d) does not contain malicious code, such as viruses, malware, timebombs, cancelbots, worms, Trojan horses or other potentially harmful programs or other material or information;

(e) does not and will not violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, rule, regulation, confidentiality agreement or other agreement; and

(f) does not trigger any reporting or royalty or other obligation to any third party.

A breach of any warranty set out in this provision of the Official Rules will result in the corresponding Submission being invalid. In addition, you agree to indemnify Sponsors against all loss, damages and costs, including attorneys’ fees, incurred by the Sponsors arising from your breach of the warranty and to fully cooperate with Sponsors in resolving any allegation, including any legal proceeding, arising from any breach of this warranty.

15. JUDGING

A. 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 they may be external; they may or may not be listed individually on the Hackathon Website, and may change before or during the Hackathon. Judging may take place in one or more rounds with one or more panels of Judges, at the discretion of the Poster.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to be eligible for a Prize, your Team must be present at the Hackathon to meet with the Judges and present your Submission.

B. Criteria: The Judges will score eligible Submissions using the following equally weighted criteria (the “Judging Criteria”):

(i) Understanding and Impact: Were the data used to create an Application that has an IMPACT on decarbonization in the EU in either of the two challenge categories?  

(ii) Ease of Implementation: Extent to which the value provided to the end user is realistically achievable with existing technologies within the near term; not vague or overly complex to tje user, or reliant on a technology that is not yet on the market.

(iii) Ecomagination Factor: What is the impact on decarbonization, and creating business value?

(iv) Creativity and Innovation: Creativity and originality of the Application idea, usability, design, and intuitiveness.

(v) Predix Capabilities: Is the Application primarily running on Predix and leveraging Predix services? Were Predix Geospatial services used? Was the Predix Developer Kit (provided by Intel) used?

The Judging Criteria above may not apply to every prize. See Section 15 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.

C. Submission Review: Judges are not required to test the Application and may choose to judge based solely on the text description and images provided in the Submission, and in-person demonstration(s) of the Application by the Maker’s Team.

D. Tie Breaker: For each prize listed in Section 15 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.

16. AWARDS

 PLEASE NOTE: Submissions are only eligible for prizes in one of the two Category prize tracks, Electrification OR Advanced Manufacturing. However, Submissions selected to win a prize in either the Electrification or Advanced Manufacturing Categories are also eligible to win a Predix Developer Kit prize.

17. VERIFICARION 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. The final decision to designate a winner shall be made by the Poster.

Submissions selected to win a prize in either the Electrification or Advanced Manufacturing Categories are also eligible to win a Predix Developer Kit prize.

B. Required Forms: Potential winners will be notified in-person at the Hackathon event or 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) may be required to sign and return to the Poster, affidavit(s) of eligibility (or a similar verification document) and liability/publicity release(s), and any applicable tax forms (“Required Forms”).

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

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

(i) The potential winner’s Representative or any participating member does not respond to email or fails to sign and return the Required Forms by the deadline listed above, or responds and rejects the Prize;  

(ii) The prize or prize notification is returned as undeliverable; or  

(iii) The Submission or the potential winner, or any member of a potential winner’s Team, is disqualified for any other reason. 

In the event of a disqualification, the Poster and/or Administrator may award the applicable prize to an alternate potential winner.

18. PRIZE DISTRIBUTION

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

B. Prize Delivery: Prizes will be distributed to the individual members of a winner’s Team. Gift card awards will be presented in-person at the Hackathon even or mailed to the winning Team member.

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.

C. Prize Delivery Timeframe: Within 45 days of the Poster or Administrator’s receipt of the Required Forms

D. Fees & Taxes: Winners (and in the case of a Team, 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 a Team, 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. 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.

19. LIMITATION 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 Poster, Poster’s Partners, Administrator, other Hackathon Sponsors, and their respective parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, the prize suppliers and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Hackathon, and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (hereafter the “Released Parties”) Released Parties from and against any and all liability in connection with the prizes or Maker’s participation in the Hackathon, including any injuries, losses, damages, claims, actions and any liability of any kind (including attorneys’ fees) resulting from or arising out of your participation in, association with or submission to the Hackathon (including any claims alleging that your Submission infringes, misappropriates or violates any third party’s intellectual property rights). The Released Parties are not responsible for any miscommunications such as technical failures related to computer, telephone, cable, and unavailable network or server connections, related technical failures, or other failures related to hardware, software or virus, or incomplete, late or misdirected Submissions. 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. 

20. SUBMISSION CONDITIONS AND RELEASE

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

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

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

(iii) You release, indemnify, defend and hold harmless 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 Hackathon, 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. 

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

(i) 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 Hackathon; 

(ii) 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 Hackathon Website;

(iii) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Hackathon; 

(iv) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Hackathon or the processing of Submissions; or 

(v) 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 Hackathon 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 Poster.

21. NO OBLIGATION

You acknowledge that multiple Makers may make Submissions that contain designs, concepts or technologies similar to your Entry and that Sponsors and/or their respective subsidiaries and business partners may already be investigating or developing technical solutions or business activities that are related or similar to those that you disclose in your Submission. You acknowledge and agree that Poster’s or Administrator’s actions with respect to another Submissions or one of their own solutions or business activities, even if similar to your Submissions shall not create any liability to you or others. Further, Posters and Administrators are not or shall not be restricted in any way from pursuing, developing, or commercializing, in any way that they see fit, independent of you and at their sole discretion, any technology that is created independent of your Submission. For the avoidance of doubt, you acknowledge that Posters and Administrators are not obligated to take any action whatsoever with regard to your Submission.

22. SEVERABILITY

The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Official Rules shall otherwise remain in effect and be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision was not contained herein.

23. GENERAL CONDITIONS

A. Poster and Administrator reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Hackathon, 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.

B. 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 Hackathon 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 Hackathon, or a violation of any applicable law or regulation. 

C. Any attempt by any person to undermine the proper conduct of the Hackathon 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

D. The terms and conditions of the Official Rules are subject to reasonable changes that are necessary or advisable at any time, including the rights or obligations of the Maker, the Poster and the Administrator. The Poster and Administrator will post the terms and conditions of the amended Official Rules on the Hackathon 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. 

E. 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.   

F. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision.

G. Excluding Submissions, all intellectual property related to this Hackathon, 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.

H. By entering the Hackathon, you waive all rights to seek injunctive or equitable relief, or to claim punitive, incidental or consequential damages, or attorneys’ fees. 

24. APPLICABLE LAW/DISPUTES

A. You agree that these terms and the relationship between you and the Sponsors shall be governed by the laws of Germany and any applicable local laws.

B. You specifically acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in these Official Rules and in the Privacy Policy for the Hackathon Website and consent to having your data transferred to and processed in the United States and in other countries as needed for Poster’s and Administrator’s business purposes.

C. GE SHALL NOT ENTERTAIN or BE HELD responsible for any dispute arising regarding the Hackathon.