Contractual Obligation

STOP. PLEASE READ.
Competitors are hereby placed on notice that all Competition Winners and Honorable Mentions will be required to enter into an Agreement with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte prior to eligibility for an award.

The Agreement will include, but is not limited to, the following provisions:

1. That as a Winner or Honorable Mention you reaffirm your Agreement with all of the terms and conditions set forth in the Competition Materials.
2. That the Award Recipients shall grant to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte a royalty free, non-exclusive, perpetual license under any copyright and/or patent owned or controlled by the Award Recipients to make, have made, reproduce, modify, and distribute the submitted Design and shall assign to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte ownership of any and all materials, 3-dimensional digital models, renderings, documentation, drawings, sketches, plans, mock ups or depictions in any format submitted thatcomprise the Design.

Competitors will receive a sample Agreement at the same time they receive their registration number.Within ten (10) business days of notification that he or she is a potential Winner or Honorable Mention, the Competitor will be required to agree to the terms and conditions as set forth in the sample Agreement.  Failure to receive a fully signed Agreement will void the Competitor’s entry in the Competition. Competitors are encouraged to review all of the terms and conditions set forth in the Agreement prior to entering a Submission. Any questions with regard to your legal rights and obligations under the Agreement should be discussed with private counsel prior to entering a Submission. If a potential Winner or Honorable Mention declines to enter into the proposed Agreement with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte within the ten (10) business day period, he or she shall be automatically withdrawn from the Competition. Should the Winner be a team composed of more than one person, all members of the team must sign the Agreement or the entire team shall be withdrawn from the competition.

Eligibility

This is an Open Competition subject to the following restrictions:

• No purchase is necessary to apply for an Award under this Competition. This Competition is void where prohibited by Law.
• Competitors must be 18 years or older.
• Only one Registration Form may be submitted per person for the duration of the Competition.
• Team work is encouraged. A Competitor that wishes to work with a team must list his or her team members in the space provided on the Registration Form. Team members cannot register separately as individual Competitors and will not be recognized as Competitors.
• Awards are non-assignable and non-transferable. Any Awards issued by the Sponsor shall be to a registered Competitor only.
• Competitors remain anonymous to the Jury until the Jury has made its selections.
• Jury Members, members of the Technical Advisory Committee, employees of the Sponsor, and their family membersare prohibited from entering the Competition.

Competitors that submit incomplete Registration Forms are not eligible to compete.

General Conditions of Participation

1. All Competition Winners and Honorable Mentions will be required to enter into an Agreement with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte prior to eligibility for an award (see Contractual Obligation section above).
2. Each Competitor represents and warrants that any materials he or she submits shall be wholly original material not published elsewhere; shall not violate any copyright, trademark or other applicable law; and shall not, to the best of the Competitor’s knowledge, constitute a defamation or invasion of the right of privacy or publicity, or an infringement of any kind, of any rights of any third party.
3. The Competitors shall comply with all applicable provisions of federal, state or local laws, rules and regulations throughout the duration of this Competition.
4. Competitors are responsible for all costs of applying to the Competition.
5. Competitors and Award Recipients agree to release the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Sponsor, Jury Members and each of their respective affiliates and all of their officers, directors, employees, agents and insurers from and against any liability or damages arising as a result of or otherwise related to their participation in the Competition.
6. The Sponsor may edit any Submissions for grammar and clarity.
7. No Submissions will be returned and all Submissions become the property of the Sponsor.
8. Awards are non-assignable and not transferable

Under no circumstances may a Competitor contact a Jury Member about a Submission. If a Competitor, or, if the Competitor is a team, any member of the team contacts a Jury Member about his or her own Submission or the Submission of any Competitor, the Competitor will be disqualified.

Contest Sponsor Rights and Responsibilities

1. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is the sole sponsor of the Competition.

2. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and its agents, respective affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, and employees:

a. Are not responsible for error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of application materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer hardware or software malfunctions of any kind or inaccurate transmission of or failure to receive Submission information on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, or any website or combination thereof.

b. Are not responsible for any injury or damage to the Competitor’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from downloading any materials related to the Competition.

c. Are not responsible for late, lost, stolen, illegible, incomplete, mutilated, destroyed, delayed, or postage due mail or misdirected Submissions.

d. Are not responsible for any oversights, omissions, or errors on their part.

e. Reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to suspend, modify or cancel the electronic method of access to the application if it becomes technically corrupted.

Exhibition and Publication

By registering for the Competition, the Competitors grant the Sponsor, the Competition Support and each of their respective agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, and employees, an irrevocable, perpetual, world-wide and fully paid up license to make, have made, use, embody, reproduce, publish, exhibit, transmit, modify or otherwise utilize in any format now known or hereafter devised the Competitor’s Submissions and any and all portions thereof. The Sponsor will make every effort to credit the Competitor or winner for use of their Submission for such purposes.

Ownership, Copyright and Patent

All materials submitted to the Competition shall become the sole property of the Sponsor. University of North Carolina at Charlotte shall own any and all materials, 3-dimensional digital models, renderings, documentation, drawings, sketches, plans, mock ups or depictions in any format submitted of or as part of the Design as well as a fully paid up, non-exclusive, royalty-free license under any copyright or patent to make, have made, reproduce, modify, and distribute the completed Design itself. All physical materials and electronic copies of digital materials, which are furnished by the Award Recipient shall become the property of the Sponsor and none will be returned. Each Award Recipient will be required to enter into an Agreement which incorporates these terms and conditions.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality of personal information will be maintained by use of reasonable means, subject to the following: By virtue of their Submission, Competitors agree that their names shall be available to the Sponsor to use in any manner in which the Sponsor deems appropriate. In addition, to the extent information submitted in the application is not information that the Sponsor will endeavor to protect from disclosure pursuant to this paragraph, Competitors agree that such information shall be available to the Sponsor to use in any manner in which the Sponsor deems appropriate. Neither the University of North Carolina at Charlotte nor any affiliated entity assumes or shall be held responsible for any liability whatsoever for any disclosures of any information submitted by any Competitor, whether such disclosure is made inadvertently or otherwise by any Jury Member, staff, consultant, affiliate or other individual connected with, participating in, reviewing, hearing, or receiving information from or in connection with the Competition. The Sponsor will endeavor, in accordance with applicable law, to protect from disclosure any confidential and/or proprietary information that the Competitor and its owners submitted as part of the Registration or Submission process.

The Sponsor may be required, pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C. Gen. Stat. 132-1 et al.) to disclose to the public a completed Registration Form, Submission or portions thereof. In the event that a request for disclosure is made, the Sponsor will provide notice to the Competitor as far in advance as practicable of any deadline for response to such request. Consistent with the requirements of that Act, the final determination about whether information may be withheld from disclosure shall be made by the Attorney General of the State of North Carolina. In the event that the Attorney General determines that information may not be withheld from disclosure, the Sponsor will attempt to provide the Competitor with timely notice of intent to disclose in order that the Competitor may invoke any rights or remedies to prevent disclosure to which it believes it may be entitled under the law.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Registration, Agreement, documents, terms and conditions and the rights and obligation of Competitors, and the Sponsor, in connection with the Awards or this Competition shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law provisions that would cause the application of any other state's laws. Each Competitor irrevocably agrees that the state and federal courts located in Charlotte, North Carolina shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any suit or other proceeding arising out of, relating to or based upon the prizes or these official rules, and each applicant hereby waives any claim as to the convenience of such forum.

Termination and Modification

The Sponsor reserves the right to terminate or withdraw this Competition and to change, modify, alter the terms and conditions governing this Competition at any time, without prior notice. Neither the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Sponsor, Jury Members, any of their respective affiliates nor any of their officers, directors, employees, agents and insurers shall be responsible for any damage, loss, inconvenience or injury suffered by any Competitors due to any termination, withdrawal, changes, substitutions, rescheduling, or for any reason whatsoever.