Mobile Dev Contest - Terms and Conditions

Contest Terms and Conditions

Following terms and conditions (the “Terms and Conditions”) shall apply to the Windows Mobile Developer contest (detailed below). For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, the term Microsoft, when used with reference to a legal entity, shall mean Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. The Windows Mobile Developer Contest is detailed below (the “Contest”):

The Contest shall run from 1st July 2009 to 30th September 2009 (“the Contest Period”). Microsoft can curtail or extend the Contest Period, as it deems necessary.
The Contest shall be divided into 3 mutually exclusive phases – Phase-1 (1st July 2009 to 31st July 2009), Phase-2 (1st August 2009 to 31st August 2009), and Phase-3 (1st September 2009 to 30th September 2009).
The Contest shall be valid in India only.
The Contest is strictly restricted to Technical Students and Professionals. Following shall be entitled to participate in the Contest (“Participant”):
1. Analysts
2. Architects
3. Developers
4. Programmer Analysts
5. Project Directors
6. Project Managers
7. Software Engineers
8. Web Designers
9. Web Developers
10. Technical Education Students
11. Engineering Students
The Participant shall be registered at www.msdncontest.com/mobile, and shall have successfully submitted an Application Idea at: www.msdncontest.com/mobile/submit_application.aspx to be eligible for evaluation for the Monthly Best Application Idea Contest.
The Participant shall be registered at www.msdncontest.com/mobile, and shall have successfully submitted an Application at: http://developer.windowsmobile.com/Marketplace.aspx to be eligible for evaluation for the Monthly Best Application Contest.
The Participant shall be registered at www.msdncontest.com/mobile, and shall have successfully submitted an Application at: http://developer.windowsmobile.com/Marketplace.aspx to be eligible for evaluation for the Monthly Best Application Contest. The eligible entries shall have scored the maximum points across the 3 phases of the Contest Judging.
An employee, agent or a relative of an employee of Microsoft, or its parent company Microsoft Corporation, USA shall not be eligible to participate in the Contest.
Each Participant must ensure that his/her participation in the Contest is lawful and is in accordance with the applicable laws.
A Participant must ensure that his/her duly filled up valid entry form in English language, where it is necessary to fill the same, is posted on the Website www.msdncontest.com/mobile on or before 30th September 2009 (11:59 PM IST). Microsoft shall not be responsible for any delays, losses or mutilation of entry forms.
No participation or other fee is required to be paid for participating in the Contest.
The Participant agrees to provide Microsoft current, complete and accurate information.
An incomplete online registration form by a Participant shall be rejected.
Microsoft reserves the right to reject any entry form without assigning any reason thereof. Any decision taken in this regard shall be final and binding, and not subject to any dispute or challenge.
The Participants hereby waive all rights and grant to Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation, USA or its Affiliates a royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual worldwide license to copy, modify and otherwise use and distribute their submission entry and/or any element of the submission, in any and all media, and in any publication whether online, offline or on the internet. Microsoft shall also be free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in such submissions or materials for any purpose.
Microsoft does not make any commitment, express or implied, to respond to any feedback, suggestion and/or queries of the Participants or furnish reasons for inclusion and/or exclusion of any particular submission of the Participant at any stage of the Contest.
Microsoft may assign any or all of its rights under these Terms and Conditions to its Affiliates without consent of the Participants.
Participation in the Contest shall be construed as an acceptance of the Terms and Conditions stipulated herein. Any breach or default by a Participant of any of the Terms and Conditions herein shall result in immediate disqualification without notice.
The Participant undertakes and declares that for participating in the Contest, he/she shall not use any unauthorized or pirated software. In the event a Participant is found to be doing so, the entry from such Participant shall forthwith be disqualified from the Contest.
The Microsoft officials engaged in the organization and management of the Contest, including its directors, officers, partners, employees, consultants and agents are under no obligation to render any advice or service to any Participant in respect of the Contest.
Any attempt by a Participant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of Criminal and Civil Laws, and should such an attempt be made, Microsoft reserves the right to seek damages from any such Participant to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Following will be the judging criteria (“Judging Criteria”) for the Contests:
1. At the conclusion of each monthly phase of the Contest, all eligible Application Idea entries received will be reviewed by a panel (or panels) of qualified judges based on the judging criteria set forth to determine one (1) Best Monthly Application Idea Winner. Decision of the Judges shall be final and binding.
2. At the conclusion of each monthly phase of the Contest, all eligible Applications submitted in Windows Marketplace for Mobile (submitted in accordance to the specified guidelines) will be reviewed by a panel (or panels) of qualified judges based on the judging criteria set forth to determine the top-3 Best Monthly Applications. Decision of the Judges shall be final and binding.
3. At the conclusion of the Contest Period, all eligible Applications submitted in Windows Marketplace for Mobile (submitted in accordance to the specified guidelines) will be reviewed by a panel (or panels) of qualified judges based on the judging criteria set forth to determine the top-3 Grand Prize Winning Applications. Decision of the Judges shall be final and binding.
Please refer to: www.msdncontest.com/mobile/submission_guidelines.aspx to get a list of requirements that needs to be fulfilled for the submission to be eligible for judging.
Following deliverables should be part of the submission for it to be eligible for Contest Judging:
1. Application Idea Submission: Completed Contest form residing at: www.msdncontest.com/mobile/submit_application.aspx.
2. Application Submission: An application that is created based on the development & testing guidelines as detailed out in the following document: https://developer.windowsmobile.com/resources/en-US/Application%20Submission%20Guidelines.pdf and successfully submitted at: http://developer.windowsmobile.com/Marketplace.aspx.
The selected Participant(s) shall have thirty (30) days from date of notification of their selection to respond at the notified place. Failure to respond within this period shall result in forfeiture of the Benefits.
The name(s) of the selected Participant(s) shall be announced through the event website: www.msdncontest.com/mobile. All selected Participants shall be informed through the Contest Website. However, there shall be no liability on Microsoft in the event the participants do not view the results on any account whatsoever.
The decision on the Participants selected by Microsoft shall be final and binding, and no correspondence or communication shall be entertained in this regard.
Microsoft or its Affiliates shall be entitled to use, in any manner, the name, photographs and other details of the Participant or any other participating person, likeness and status in any publication including the Benefits awarded to them, if any. By participating in the Contest, all Participants hereby agree to the same. Microsoft may, at its discretion, choose not to disclose the identity of the selected Participant to other Participants.
Benefits shall neither be transferable nor exchangeable for cash or otherwise. More participation in the Contest shall not entitle a Participant to the Benefits. No other person or agent can claim the benefits on behalf of the Participant.
In the event the benefits involve manufactured items, these shall be subject to manufacturer’s terms and conditions for warranty, service and maintenance, and Microsoft does not accept any responsibility for the same.
Where the Benefits under the current Contest are items/goods, these shall be subject to availability. Microsoft at its discretion can provide alternate items of equivalent value. Pictures of the items/goods shown in the Contest website and/or announcement mailers may differ from the items/goods given.
In the event Benefits involve travel, the selected participant shall be responsible for procuring and paying the cost of all the legal documents and procedures in order to travel, including passports, visas, taxes and any other documents. All travel arrangements relating to the Benefits are subject to availability, as determined in Microsoft’s sole discretion.
Taxes and other levies imposed by any relevant applicable government or tax authority, as well as other costs including, insurance and incidental costs, that may be levied or incurred on the Benefits shall be fully borne by the selected participants. All benefits shall be subject to deduction or recovery of applicable withholding taxes.
Subject to any applicable law: (a) All warranties of any kind whatsoever, whether express or implied, are hereby expressly disclaimed by Microsoft including, but not limited to, meeting of the Participant's requirements or aspirations, timeliness, security, the results or reliability of any Contest, or the delivery, quality, quantity, merchantability, fitness for use or non infringement in respect of any goods, services, benefits or awards acquired or obtained through the Contest or any transactions effected through the Contest; (b) The Participant expressly agrees that his/her participation in the Contest offered by Microsoft is at the Participant's sole risk and is governed by the Terms and Conditions herein; and (c) No advice or information whether by representations, oral, written or pictorial derived from the website or through the Contest shall be construed to mean the giving of any warranty of any kind by Microsoft.
Nothing in the Contest shall affect any intellectual property rights of Microsoft in any product or service, which may be the subject matter of the Contest.
All perpetual and worldwide intellectual property rights, including any copyright in the applications developed by the Participants and, or, their submissions, feedback, material and the like shall be owned by Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation USA or its Affiliates. Microsoft shall be entitled to exploit the same in any manner whatsoever.
The Contest shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India. Any disputes, differences and, or, any other matters in relation to and arising out of the Contest and, or, pertaining to the rules and regulations and, or, the Terms and Conditions shall be referred to arbitration under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996. The arbitral tribunal shall consist of a sole arbitrator to be appointed by Microsoft. The venue of arbitration shall be New Delhi.
The Participant undertakes to indemnify and keep Microsoft harmless and indemnified against any loss, damage, claims, costs and expenses which may be incurred or suffered by Microsoft due to breach of any Terms and Conditions contained herein by the Participant and/or infringement or violation of any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary right of a third party by the Participant and, or, arising from the participation of the Participant in the Contest.
In addition to these Terms and Conditions, other specific terms may be imposed by Microsoft any time to deal with any unforeseen situation. Microsoft also reserves the absolute right to change the Terms and Conditions contained herein and, or, any other rules and regulations in respect of the Contest at any time without any notice, without assigning any reason and without any liability whatsoever. Participants are requested to refer to such other terms and conditions, if any, which may be displayed on-line or intimated separately as Microsoft considers fit. However, no obligation is cast on Microsoft to separately intimate each individual Participant with regard to such additional terms and conditions.
Microsoft also reserves the right to withdraw or discontinue with the Contest at any stage without any liability whatsoever to the Participant and, or, anyone.
An 'Affiliate' means any legal entity owned or controlled by Microsoft, which owns or controls Microsoft or which is under common ownership or control with Microsoft. The term 'ownership' means more than 50% direct or indirect ownership/shareholding and the term 'control' means direct or indirect control of the management or the board of directors.