GenLab Hackathon II: Rules, Terms and Conditions

Eligibility

• All participants must be 18 years or older [to receive awards]. 

• Experienced developers, product managers, and designers are encouraged to participate.

• Teams may consist of one to six members, and all contributors to the code and features presented for judging must be disclosed to the organizers.

• 50% or more of submitting project team members must participate in-person and on-site for a majority of the hackathon duration (8 hours).

• Teams are eligible to compete if they have received less than $1M in combined funding and revenue.

• Teams will be approved or declined for participation by the organizers, at the organizers’ sole discretion.

• Each Participant must supply their own laptop and hardware to participate. No hardware will be provided by the organizers for team project use.

Judging:

• Teams will be judged on the following criteria:

• Creativity and innovation.

• Technical skill and accomplishment.

• Potential of project to increase human capabilities and enhance society.

• Development of new and unique features and functionality (compared to use of existing code, features and functionality, if applicable).

• Team stage (e.g., newly formed, pre-funding, seed stage, etc.)

• Judging Rounds:

• All Teams will present to judging panels in the preliminary round. Presentation format and criteria TBA.

• Preliminary judges will select a set of finalist Teams that will present to all attendees and a finalist judging panel.

• Finalist judging panel will vote on finalist Teams according to the finalist judging criteria.

• Winning teams will be selected according to the judging criteria and awards will be announced.

Awards and Prize Money Allocation

• Awards and prize money will be allocated to teams based on the discretion of judges and organizers, based on judging criteria.

Total Prize Money: $15,000

Allocation of prize money

• 1st place (overall): $5,000

• 2nd place (overall): $2,500

• 3rd place (overall): $1,500

Additional prize money awards:

• Best Newly Formed Team (all code originated at hackathon, other than open source or publicly available api’s): $2,000

• Best Bootstrapped Org. (no prior investments or revenue received): $2,000

• Project/concept with most promise to enhance human capabilities and improve lives: $2,000

Code, Project Submissions, and Other Rules and Agreements:

• Teams must submit their projects by the deadline specified by the organizers.

• Teams may use existing code and build upon existing functionality within their projects. Existing code and functionality may include any combination of proprietary code, open source code, services accessed via API, etc. However, teams must clearly distinguish between code and functionality developed by the team at the hackathon and code or functionality that was previously developed and sourced through other methods.

• Individuals and Teams are solely responsible for complying with all intellectual property rights and other laws, as may be applicable to their projects and submissions.

• Team submissions must include a narrative description of their hackathon project that includes itemization of code and functionality built during the hackathon timeframe, and itemization of code and functionality of all preexisting code and functionality utilized within the product, features, and functionalities submitted and presented.

• By participating, Individuals and Teams agree to abide by all rules and the hackathon's code of conduct.

• Organizers reserve the right to disqualify any team at any time that violates any rules (written or implied) or code of conduct, at the organizers sole discretion. This includes, but is not limited to, misleading of any judges or organizers as to the source and scope of any pre-existing code and features represented within a project or presentation, 

• Code of Conduct: All participants must behave respectfully and professionally towards each other. Any form of harassment or inappropriate behavior will result in immediate disqualification and removal from the event.

• Respect and Inclusivity: Treat others with dignity and respect, regardless of gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, or religion. Discrimination or harassment will not be tolerated.

• Collaboration and Integrity: Honesty in work, contributions, sources, submissions, attributions, and credits. Do not violate any terms of service or omit any credits or attributions. Sabotaging efforts of others, and any form of cheating, is strictly prohibited.

• Professional Conduct: All interactions should be handled professionally. Any offensive language, activity, or behavior may result in disqualification and removal from the event.

• Event organizers reserve the right to modify all terms, rules, and conditions as deemed necessary, and at their sole discretion.

• Organizers will make their best efforts to notify participants and teams promptly with any updates.

• An individual may, upon approval of the organizer in its sole discretion, participate on more than one team, and therefore make more than one submission, however, each submission must be unique and substantially different from each of the individual’s other team submissions.

• By participating, Individuals and Teams represent and warrant that their participation and any component of their submission does not violate any agreement or obligation to any invention assignment, proprietary information, confidentiality, non-solicitation, noncompetition or similar agreement with any employer or other person. 

• By participating, Individuals and Teams represent and warrant that their submission does not and will not infringe the intellectual property or proprietary rights of any third party, including, without limitation, any third party patents, copyrights or trademarks. 

• By participating, Individuals and Teams agree not to instigate, support, maintain or authorize any action, claim or lawsuit against any of the Organizers, or any other person, on the grounds that any use of an Individuals and Teams submission infringes any of Individuals and Teams rights as creator of the submission, including, without limitation, trademark rights, copyrights and moral rights or “droit moral.” 

• The ownership of any intellectual property developed by Individuals and Teams during and within the scope of the Hackathon will remain with such Parties. 

• Individuals participating on Teams are responsible for any and all agreements amongst themselves. Individuals are advised to seek legal counsel on how their intellectual property may be treated if jointly created without an agreement in place.

• By joining the Hackathon, Individuals expressly authorize Organizers to publish, communicate, exhibit, and disclose orally, graphically, in writing, or via audio or video recording, and with no compensation involved, projects and prototypes presented during the Hackathon.

• Nothing herein shall constitute an employment, joint venture, or partnership relationship between Individuals and Organizers. Individuals and Teams will not receive any compensation from Organizers in connection with any submissions. Each Individual acknowledges and agrees that Organizer or other Individuals or third parties may have developed or commissioned works which are similar to the submission of Individuals or Teams, or may develop something similar in the future, and each Individual waives any claims that Individual may have resulting from any similarities to the submissions of each Individual or Individual’s team.

• 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 Organizer and/or Administrator. Deadline for Returning Required Forms: ten (10) business days after the Required Forms are sent. Failure to return the required forms may result in disqualification. Failure of the winner to return the paperwork in more than three months will result in forfeiture of the prize.

• Prize Delivery: Prizes will be payable to the Entrant, if an individual; to the Entrant’s Representative, if a Team; or to the Organization, if the Entrant is an Organization. It will be the responsibility of the winning Entrant’s Representative to allocate the Prize among their Team or Organization’s participating members, as the Representative deems appropriate. A monetary Prize will be mailed to the winning Entrant’s address (if an individual) or the Representative’s address (if a Team or Organization), or sent electronically to the Entrant, Entrant’s Representative, or Organization’s bank account, only after receipt of the completed winner affidavit and other required forms (collectively the “Required Forms”), if applicable. 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 of the Entrant, or forfeiture of a Prize. Prizes will be delivered within 60 days of the Organizer’s receipt of the completed Required Forms.

• 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 or currency exchange 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 may be required to provide a completed form W-9 and residents of other countries may be 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 Organizer and/or Prize provider reserves the right to withhold a portion of the prize amount to comply with the tax laws of the United States or other Organizer jurisdiction, or those of a winner’s jurisdiction.

Limitations of Liability:

• By entering, all Entrants (including, in the case of a Team or Organization, all participating members) agree to release the Released Parties from any and all liability in connection with the Prizes or Entrant’s participation in the Hackathon. 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.

Disputes.

• Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Hackathon, Entrant agrees that:

• Any and all disputes and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Hackathon, 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;

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

• Judgment upon such arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.

• Under no circumstances will Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and Entrant 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 Hackathon), and Entrant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

• All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Entrant and Organizer in connection with this Hackathon, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the substantive laws of the State of California, USA without regard to California choice of law rules.

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