GOOGLE
CODE JAM 2009 CONTEST
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.
VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
ENTRY IN THIS CONTEST CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS
AND CONDITIONS.
The Google Code Jam Contest (“Contest”) is a
competition designed to engage programmers from around the world
in algorithmic programming. Prizes will be awarded to those
contestants who have the highest scores on a
series of programming problems, as more fully discussed below.
- 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.
- 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 November 6, 2009 will be able to attend and participate
in the Onsite Round at the Google office. NOTE: If you
are not 18 or older, you will be ineligible to travel to the
Onsite Round, though you can still win a t-shirt.
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. Google reserves
the right to relax any of these restrictions if permitted by
law before the start of the Qualification Round. 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.
- 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 Monday, August 10, 2009 at 23:00 UTC
(4:00 PM Pacific Time (PT) in the United States) and ends on
Friday, September 4, 2009 at 01:00 UTC (6:00 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.
- 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. Rounds 1, 2 and 3 will take place online.
The onsite finals will take place at Google Headquarters in Mountain
View, California.
- Qualification Round. The Contest will
start with a Qualification Round on Wednesday, September 2,
2009 at 23:00 UTC (4:00 PM PT) and run for 26 hours,
ending on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 01:00 UTC (6:00
PM PT). All registered contestants will be presented with
3 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 log in
to the Contest site and attempt to solve the three problems
anytime during the 26-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 three sub-rounds offered at different times from
Saturday, September 12, 2009 to Sunday, September 13,
2009. Contestants who advance to Online Round 1 will
be assigned to either two or three sub-rounds at Google's discretion,
and will be notified of their sub-round assignment and their advancement by email.
All contestants will be assigned to the same number of sub-rounds.
Google will endeavor to register contestants for their preferred
sub-round times, but cannot guarantee that all contestants
will receive their preferred times. You will not be able
to change your assigned sub-round times.
During their assigned sub-round time, contestants must log in
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 1000 contestants from each of the
three sub-rounds will advance to Online Round 2.
Contestants who advance to Online Round 2 from a sub-round
may not participate in later sub-rounds.
Contestants who fail to
advance from a sub-round may attempt to advance to
Online Round 2 in later sub-rounds in which they are allowed to participate.
- Online Rounds 2 and 3. The
3000 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, September 26, 2009 at 16:00
UTC (9:00 AM PT) and will end on Saturday, September 26,
2009 at 18:30 UTC (11:30 AM PT). Online Round 2 contestants
will log in 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 500 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, October 10, 2009 at 16:00 UTC (9:00 AM PT) and
will end on October 10, 2009 at 18:30 UTC (11:30
AM PT). Online Round 3 contests will log in 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.
- Onsite Final Round. The top-scoring 25
contestants from the Online Round 3 will advance to
the Onsite Final Round on Friday, November 13, 2009 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 as 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.
- 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 attempts to solve 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 attempts to solve 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.
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.
- 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.
- 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 500 scoring participants from Online Round 2 will
receive Google T-Shirts to the address used in
registration. A cash prize of equivalent value may be given
where required by law, or at Google's discretion. 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 | $5,000 |
| 2nd Place | $2,000 |
| 3rd Place | $1,000 |
| 4th—25th Place | $100 |
Money prizes will be awarded in U.S. dollars. Any costs
associated with currency exchange are the sole responsibility
of the recipient.
- 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 within 7 days
of request 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.
- 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 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.
- TRAVEL. Contestants participating in the Onsite Final
Round will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Google’s
Headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA. Each of these
contestants will receive round-trip coach class 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 final 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
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 Final Round.
- 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.
- 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
- 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:
- Providing false information concerning his/her identity,
postal address, mail address or telephone number;
- Breaching any of the provisions set forth in these
Terms;
- Threatening, harassing or interfering with the ability
of other contestants to effectively participate in the
Contest;
- Threatening, harassing or interfering with Google
administrators or other employees; or
- 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.
- 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 Contest
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- WINNER’S LIST. For the winners’ names, go to
http://code.google.com/codejam
after the Contest closes.
- SPONSOR. The Sponsor of this Contest is Google Inc., 1600
Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California, USA 94043.