GOOGLE CODE JAM 2008 CONTEST

1. BINDING AGREEMENT. In order to enter the Contest, you must agree to these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”). Therefore, please read these Terms prior to entry to ensure you understand and agree. You agree that submission of an entry in the Contest constitutes agreement to these Terms. You may not submit an entry to the Contest and are not eligible to receive the prizes unless you agree to these Terms. These Terms form a binding legal agreement between you and Google with respect to the Contest.
2. ELIGIBILITY. This Contest is open to individuals who are 18 years of age or older at the time of registration. Individuals who are 13 years or older at the time of registration may enter the Contest but will only be able to take part in the Qualification and Online Rounds as described below. Only contestants 18 years of age or older as of September 18, 2008 will be able to attend and participate in the Onsite Rounds at Google offices. NOTE: If you are not 18 or older, you will be ineligible to travel to the Onsite Rounds and will not be able to win any prizes in the Contest.
   
   The Contest is void in Quebec and where prohibited by law. Nationals and residents of Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria, and other persons and entities restricted by U.S. export controls and sanctions programs are not eligible to participate in the Contest. Current employees, interns, contractors, and official office-holders of Google, and its parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, advertising and promotion agencies, representatives, and agents (“Contest Entities”), and members of the Contest Entities’ immediate families (parents, siblings, children, spouses, and life partners of each, regardless of where they live) and members of the Contest Entities’ households (whether related or not) are ineligible to participate in this Contest. Google reserves the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate on any dispute at any time. All contestants must have access to the Internet, a valid postal address, and a valid email address in order to enter.
   
   All communications between Google and contestants, including but not limited to the Contest website content and email communications, will be in English.
3. HOW TO ENTER. All contestants must register and provide the required information about themselves at the Contest Website, located at http://code.google.com/codejam/contest. Registration opens on June 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM UTC (9:00 AM Pacific Time (PT) in the United States) and ends on July 17, 2008 at 11:00 PM UTC (4:00 PM PT). Note that Registration extends through the Qualification Round; you must register before being able to participate in the Qualification Round.
   
   IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CONTESTANTS: CONTESTANTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING THE CORRESPONDING TIME ZONE IN THEIR RESPECTIVE JURISDICTIONS.
   
   As part of Registration, contestants will be required to provide information about themselves, such as their names and email addresses, as well as to choose a screenname/nickname. Google reserves the right to change or omit contestant screennames or nicknames for purposes of publication on Google websites or listserv, particularly if they are, in Google’s sole opinion, obscene or violate the intellectual property rights of others.
4. CONTEST STRUCTURE. The Contest is split up into a number of Rounds. In each Round, contestants will receive scores based on providing answers to a series of problems in the manner specified. After each Round, a specified number of contestants who have the highest scores in that Round will advance to the next Round. The first Rounds will take place online while the latter Rounds will take place at Google offices.
   • Qualification Round. The Contest will start with a Qualification Round on July 16, 2008 at 11:00 PM UTC (4:00 PM PT) and run for 24 hours, ending on July 17, 2008 at 11:00 PM UTC (4:00 PM PT). All registered contestants will be presented with three problems in the Qualification Round, each of which will have one small input/output set and one large input/output set, as discussed below. Contestants can login to the Contest site and attempt to solve the three problems anytime during the 24-hour period of the Qualification Round. Only contestants who correctly solve at least one small and large input/output set from the three problems will advance to Online Round 1.
   • Online Round 1. Online Round 1 consists of several sub-rounds offered at different times from Friday, July 25, 2008 to Thursday, July 31, 2008. Contestants who advance to Online Round 1 will be notified by email after the completion of the Qualification Round and will be required to rank three sub-round times that they would prefer by Monday, July 21 at 1:00 PM UTC (6:00 AM PT). Each contestant in Online Round 1 will then be assigned to two sub-rounds. Google will endeavor to register contestants for their preferred sub-round times, but cannot guarantee that all contestants will received their preferred times. You will not be able to change your assigned sub-round times. The total number of sub-rounds will be determined by the number of contestants who advance from the Qualification Round.
     
     During their assigned sub-round time, contestants must login to the Contest website and will be presented with a problem set as described below. Of those participating in Online Round 1, the top-scoring 2520 contestants will advance to Online Round 2. Contestants who advance to Online Round 2 from their first assigned sub-round may not participate in their second assigned sub-round. Contestants who fail to advance from their first sub-round may attempt to advance to Online Round 2 in their second sub-round. The number of sub-rounds will determine how many contestants advance from each sub-round. For example, if there are 4 sub-rounds, the top-scoring 630 contestants from each sub-round will advance in order to have a total of 2520 contestants in Online Round 2.
   • Online Rounds 2 and 3. The top-scoring 2520 contestants advancing to Online Round 2 will be notified by email after the end of Online Round 1. Online Round 2 will begin on Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 4:00 PM UTC (9:00 AM PT) and will end on Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 6:00 PM UTC (11:00 AM PT). Online Round 2 contestants will login to the Contest site during this time and be presented with a problem set to be solved and submitted as explained in the next Section of these Terms.
     
     The top-scoring 1000 contestants from Online Round 2 will be notified by email after the close of the round that they have advanced to Online Round 3. Online Round 3 will begin on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 4:00 PM UTC (9:00 AM PT) and will end on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 6:00 PM UTC (11:00 AM PT). Online Round 3 contests will login to the Contest site and be presented with a problem set to be solved and submitted as explained in the next Section of these Terms.
   • Local Onsite Round For purposes of the Local Onsite Round, contestants will be divided into three groups based on their residence: Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); the Americas; and Asia Pacific. Google intends to have the top-scoring 500 contestants from Online Round 3 advance to the Local Onsite Round. However, if after choosing the top-scoring 500 contestants worldwide, any of the three groups have less than 50 contestants represented in the total, Google will select the next-highest scoring contestants from the region in question in order to reach 50 contestants. All contestants advancing to the Local Onsite Round will be notified by email after the end of Online Round 3.
     
     Contestants in the Local Onsite Round will be sent to a Google office in their region of Google’s choosing and at Google’s expense (see details below). Contestants at each local office within a region will begin their Local Onsite Round problems at the same time (to be announced after the end of Online Round 3) and be presented with the same problem set as explained in the next Section. Contestants will be required to use Google-provided computer equipment to solve the problem set (with the exception of a contestant-supplied keyboard if the contestant wishes). The top-scoring 20% of contestants from each region in the local onsite rounds will qualify for the Onsite Final Round.
   • Onsite Final Round. The top-scoring 20% of contestants from the Local Onsite Rounds will advance to the Onsite Final Round on Friday, November 14, 2008 at the Google offices in Mountain View, California, USA. Costs of travel and expenses for this trip for each contestant will be paid by Google at detailed below. During the Onsite Final Round, contestants will be asked to solve a problem set as explained below using Google-provided computer equipment only (with the exception of a contestant-supplied keyboard if the contestant wishes). Onsite Final Round contestants will receive the prizes detailed below depending on their scores and rankings from this Round.
5. THE PROBLEMS. During each Round of the Contest, contestants in that Round will be presented with a problem set. Each problem set consists of a series of algorithmic problems and input/output sets for each problem as described below. Once a Round begins, each contestant will be able to access the problems and download the relevant input files for the problems for that Round. A valid submission for a problem consists of (1) the source code the contestant believes solves the problem and (2) the output file generated when the contestant’s source code is run on the relevant input set. Submissions must be made within the allotted and specified timeframe for each problem in order for the submission to be considered. In addition, the output files must be provided in the format specified by these Terms and/or the Contest website.
   
   In addition to a textual description of the problem, each problem will be associated with two input/output sets: a small input/output set and a large input/output set. There are different rules for the small and large input/output sets.
   • Small Input/Output Sets. When a contestant solves a small input/output set, a timer will start as soon as he/she downloads that small input file. The contestant then has four (4) minutes to submit the corresponding output file and the source code used in its generation. If the output file and source code file are not received by the end of the four (4) minute period or if the submitted output is incorrect, the attempt will be judged as incorrect and the contestant will be notified immediately. At that point, the contestant may choose to attempt to solve that problem again, but will have to download a new input file. The contestants’ submissions will be judged immediately and the contestant will be notified if he/she provided a correct or incorrect answer.
   • Large Input/Output Sets. When a contestant solves a large input/output set, a timer will start as soon as he/she downloads that large input file. The contestant then has eight (8) minutes to submit the corresponding output file and the source code used in its generation. Each contestant will be able to download only one large input file for each problem. The contestant may submit multiple outputs during the eight (8) minute period; with each output submission, the contestant must include the source code used to generate the output. For large input sets, only the last output submitted within the eight (8) minute period will be considered. Judgments for the large input sets will not be revealed to the contestants until the specific Round ends. For large input/output sets, contestants will not be able to re-upload output files or source code after the end of the eight (8) minute period.
   • Source Code Submission Contestants must upload all code used in solving each input/output set for each problem. The maximum allowable size of each source code file uploaded is 100KB. Your source code file may be compressed provided that the uncompressed contents do not exceed 1MB in size. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed.
   
   Contestants are advised to submit their output files and source code with an adequate amount of time remaining in their four (4) or eight (8) minute periods in order to avoid problems arising from latency issues between the contestant’s computer and Google servers.
6. JUDGING AND SCORING. All output files will be judged based on the following scoring system:
   
   Each problem has fixed point values for its small input/output set and large input/output set. For example, for a given problem the solution to the small input/output set may be worth 10 points while the solution to the large input/output set may be worth 15 points. A contestant's total score for a Round (or sub-round) will be the sum of the point values for all of the input/output sets he or she correctly solves in that Round (or sub-round).
   
   In the event of a tie between two or more contestants, those contestants will be ranked in ascending order according to the penalty times associated with their solutions. In other words, as between the contestants tied on point values, the one with the lower penalty time will be ranked first while the one with the highest penalty time will be ranked last.
   
   A contestant's penalty time for a given Round is equal to the submission time of the last output that was submitted by the contestant and judged correct (time is measured from start of the Round) plus four (4) minutes for each incorrect small input set submission on problems the contestant eventually solves.
7. ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS AND PRIZES. Contestants will be notified by email within seven (7) business days following each Round’s close as to whether they have advanced to the next Round or not. Rankings from the Onsite Final Round will be announced within seven (7) business days following the end of that Round. These rankings, including the contestants’ names, will also be posted on the Google Code Jam website located at http://code.google.com/codejam.
   
   The top-scoring 500 contestants from Online Round 3 will receive Google T-Shirts to the address used in registration. Any duties and taxes (if applicable) are the sole responsibility of the recipients.
   
   All contestants who attend and compete in the Onsite Final Round will receive the following prizes based on their scores in that Round.
   
   

   Competitor(s)	Prize
   1st Place	$10,000
   2nd Place	$5,000
   3rd Place	$2,500
   4th—10th Place	$1,500
   11th—30th Place	$1,000
   31st—50th Place	$750
   51st—75th Place	$500
   76th—100th Place	$250

   
   The 1^st Place contestant in the Onsite Final Round will also receive ten (10) free lunches for himself/herself and one guest at any Google office in the world. Contestant is responsible for his/her own transportation to and from the Google office. This offer is only available for Google offices that have onsite cafes. The 1^st Place Contestant must contact Google through the means specified to him/her before each visit and must be accompanied by a host during lunch. This prize expires November 14, 2009.
   
   Money prizes will be awarded in U.S. dollars and will be payable in the form of an electronic payment card. Any costs associated with currency exchange are the sole responsibility of the recipient.
8. TAXES. PAYMENTS TO POTENTIAL WINNERS ARE SUBJECT TO THE EXPRESS REQUIREMENT THAT THEY SUBMIT TO GOOGLE ALL DOCUMENTATION REQUESTED BY GOOGLE TO PERMIT IT TO COMPLY WITH ALL APPLICABLE STATE, FEDERAL, LOCAL AND FOREIGN (INCLUDING PROVINCIAL) TAX REPORTING AND WITHHOLDING REQUIREMENTS. ALL PRIZES WILL BE NET OF ANY TAXES GOOGLE IS REQUIRED BY LAW TO WITHHOLD. ALL TAXES IMPOSED ON PRIZES ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNERS. In order to receive a prize, potential winners must submit the tax documentation requested by Google or otherwise required by applicable law, to Google or the relevant tax authority, all as determined by applicable law, including, where relevant, the law of the potential winner’s country of residence. The potential winner is responsible for ensuring that (s)he complies with all the applicable tax laws and filing requirements. If a potential winner fails to provide such documentation or comply with such laws, the prize may be forfeited and Google may, in its sole discretion, select an alternative potential winner.
9. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION. Prizes are awarded without warranty of any kind from Google, express or implied, without limitation, except where this would be contrary to federal, state, provincial, or local laws or regulations. All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. Contestant’s participation in this Contest means that contestants agree to be bound by the terms of these Terms and by the decisions of Google, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to this Contest. Any potential winner who cannot be contacted within 15 days of attempted first notification will forfeit his/her prize. Potential prize winner(s) may be required to sign and return an Affidavit or Declaration of Eligibility, and Liability/Publicity Release within 30 days following the date of first attempted notification. Failure to comply within this time period may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. Each contestant will retain ownership of and all intellectual and industrial property rights to his or her Contest submission; provided that, as a condition of participation, Contestants agree that Google shall have a perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, royalty-free right to use, copy, distribute, modify and make publicly available the submission in connection with the operation, conduct, administration, and advertising and promotion of the Contest. Contestants also agree that all submitted source code will be made available for all users to view and download at the end of the contest. Contestants further grant a world-wide, royalty-free right to use, copy, and modify all submitted source code to other contestants after the Contest ends. Contestants agree and acknowledge that the downloading and running of any source code from the Contest is undertaken at the sole risk of the downloading contestant and not Google or any other contestant.
   
   Acceptance of any prize constitutes permission for, and contestant’s consent to, Google and its agencies to use a contestant’s name and/or likeness and submission for advertising and promotional purposes without compensation, unless prohibited by law. To the extent permitted by law, contestants agree to hold Google, its respective directors, officers, employees and assigns harmless for any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Contest and/or use or acceptance of any prize won, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of the Google. Google will not be liable in the event a typographical or other error occurs in the administration of the Contest or the announcement of the winners.
10. TRAVEL. Contestants participating in the Onsite Local Round and the Onsite Final Round will receive an all-expensed paid trip to a local Google office or Google’s Headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA respectively. Each of these contestants will receive round-trip coach air transportation for himself/herself from the major airport nearest the contestant’s residence, hotel accommodations for the duration of the Round in question, and a meal allowance of $75 USD per person per day for the duration of the Round. Hotel accommodations will be arranged at a hotel of Google’s choice. All other expenses not specified herein are the responsibility of the contestants.
    
    By accepting the travel to the Onsite Local Round or Onsite Final Round, contestants represent and warrant that they understand that travel, whether in civilized or remote areas and whether by plane, automobile, boat, raft, or other conveyance, or by foot, on land or water, and in the air, contains some inherent element of risk of accident, illness, injury, loss or death, which may be caused by negligence, forces of nature, wild animals or other agencies, known or unknown. Contestants represent that they recognize that such risks may be present at any time before, during and after the trip. In no event shall Google, or its affiliates, subsidiaries, related companies or agents, be liable for any harm, damage, claim, loss or other action arising out of the contestant’s travel to the Onsite Local Round or Onsite Final Round.
11. DATA PRIVACY. Contestants agree that personal data entered during the registration, including name, mailing address, phone number, and email address may be processed, stored, and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the Contest. This data will also be transferred into the United States. By entering, contestants agree to the transmission, processing, sharing and storage of this personal data in the United States.
    
    Contestants also understand this data may be used by Google in order to verify a contestant’s identity, postal address and telephone number in the event a contestant qualifies for a prize. Contestants have the right to access, review, rectify or cancel any personal data held by Google in connection with the Contest by writing to Google at the address listed below. If a contestant does not provide the data required at registration, that contestant’s entry will be ineligible. Otherwise, all personal information that is collected from the contestant is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy, located at http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html.
    
    By accepting a prize, contestant agrees and consents to Google and its agencies use of contestant’s name and/or likeness to name the contestant for a reasonable time after completion of the Contest in promotional and advertising material of Google (or its agents) as a winner of the Contest without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law.
    
    For residents of the EU: you are informed that:
    • the data controller is Google and the data recipients are Google and its agents;
    • your data is collected for purposes of administration of the promotion and for marketing purposes;
    • you have a right of access to and withdrawal of your personal data. You also have a right of opposition to the data collection, under certain circumstances. To exercise such right, you may write to codejam-claims@google.com.
    • your personal data will be transferred to the U.S.
12. WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY. Contestants certify that their submission is original and that they are the sole and exclusive owner and right holder of the submission and that they have the right to enter the Contest. Each contestant certifies that all parts of his/her code, compilers and other binaries used in the processing of inputs into outputs are either original, or are licensed for use by both Google and all contestants in a way that does not: (1) infringe any third party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; or (2) make use of ideas, hints or solutions for the Contest presented, other than by Google, for the first time after the start of the Contest in any form, including without limitation from other individuals, contestants, websites, listservs or blogs; or (3) otherwise violate applicable laws and regulations.
    
    To the maximum extent permitted by law, each contestant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified Google at all times from and against any liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses resulting from any act, default or omission of the contestant and/or a breach of any warranty set forth herein. To the maximum extent permitted by law, each contestant agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Google from and against any and all claims, actions, suits or proceedings, as well as any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or accruing from (a) any entry or other material uploaded or otherwise provided by the contestant that infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, patent or other intellectual property right of any person or defames any person or violates their rights of publicity or privacy, (b) any misrepresentation made by the contestant in connection with the Contest; (c) any non-compliance by the contestant with these Terms; (d) claims brought by persons or entities other than the parties to these Terms arising from or related to the contestant’s involvement with the Contest; (e) acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize or participation in any Contest-related activity or participation in this Contest; (f) any malfunction or other problem with the Contest Site; (g) any error in the collection, processing, or retention of entry information; or (h) any typographical or other error in the printing, offering or announcement of any prize or winners
13. ELIMINATION. A contestant may be prohibited from participating in this Contest if, in Google’s sole discretion, it reasonably believes that the contestant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by:
    1. Providing false information concerning his/her identity, postal address, mail address or telephone number;
    2. Breaching any of the provisions set forth in these Terms;
    3. Threatening, harassing or interfering with the ability of other contestants to effectively participate in the Contest;
    4. Threatening, harassing or interfering with Google administrators or other employees; or
    5. Refusing to comply with these Terms.
    
    Google further reserves the right to disqualify any submission that it believes in its sole and unfettered discretion infringes upon or violates the rights of any third party or otherwise does not comply with these Terms.
    
    Claims or concerns about suspicious activity or cheating in any Round must be delivered to the Contest administrator within 48 hours after the end of that Round. If Google suspects cheating or violation of the rules from competitors, Google will in its sole discretion research all claims and take the appropriate action. All decisions of Google are in these matters are final and binding.
14. INTERNET. Google is not responsible for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission. Google is not responsible for theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of submission materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind. Google is not responsible for inaccurate transmissions of or Google’s failure to receive Contestant’s output information on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site or any combination thereof, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of the Google. If for any reason a portion of the Contest website is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, Google reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. Google reserves the right to select winners from eligible submissions received as of the termination date. Google further reserves the right to disqualify any individual who tampers with the submission process.
    
    Caution: Any attempt by a contestant to deliberately damage any Web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the game is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Google reserves the right to seek damages from any such contestant to the fullest extent of the law.
15. NOT AN OFFER OR CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT. Under no circumstances shall the submission of an entry into the Contest, the awarding of a prize, or anything in these Terms be construed as an offer or contract of employment with Google. You acknowledge that you have submitted your entry voluntarily and not in confidence or in trust. You acknowledge that no confidential, fiduciary, agency or other relationship or implied-in-fact contract now exists between you and Google and that no such relationship is established by your submission of an entry under these Terms.
16. NO RECOURSE TO JUDICIAL OR OTHER PROCEDURES. To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this Contest are hereby excluded, and any contestant expressly waives any and all such rights. Contestants agree that these Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA. Contestants further agree that Google will not be liable for any errors, ambiguities or other inaccuracies caused by Google in the design, execution, judging or other aspects of the Contest.
17. INVALIDITY. If any provision(s) of these Terms are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.
18. WINNER’S LIST. For the winners’ names, go to http://code.google.com/codejam after the Contest closes.
19. SPONSOR. The Sponsor of this Contest is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California, USA 94043.

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