ZEROBOUNCE - HACKATHON OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS HACKATHON. A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE THE CHANCES OF WINNING.
Eligibility: The Hackathon (the “Hackathon”) is sponsored by Hertza L.L.C., dba Zerobounce (“ZeroBounce”) and is open only to those individuals who are at least eighteen (18) years of age and otherwise eligible in accordance with the laws where they reside. Teams or organizations are permitted to enter the Hackathon, provided that they appoint and authorize one individual (who meets the above requirement) to act as their representative. Individual, teams, and/or organizations participating in the Hackathon are referenced herein as “Entrant(s)”. The Hackathon is void where prohibited by law, including, but not limited to, in Brazil, Quebec, Russia, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and any other country designated by the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
2. Agreement to Official Rules: By participating, you agree to be fully bound by these Official Rules, and you represent and warrant that you meet the eligibility requirements set forth herein. To the extent that you are entering the Hackathon on behalf of a team or organization, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to act on behalf of your team or organization. In addition, you agree to accept the decisions of ZeroBounce, as final and binding. The Hackathon is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws. In addition, please review the Devpost Terms of Service at https://info.devpost.com/terms for additional rules that apply to your participation in the Hackathon and more generally to your use of the Devpost website. Such Terms of Service are incorporated by reference into these Official Rules. In the event of any conflict between the Terms of Service and these Official Rules, these Official Rules shall control with respect to this Hackathon only.
3. Hackathon Period: Entries will be accepted online starting on or about 8:00 a.m. (ET), Monday, May 15, 2023, and must be received by 8:00 p.m. (ET), Friday, May 19, 2023 (the “Submission Period”). Judging will occur starting on or around 12:00 a.m. (ET), Saturday, May 20, 2023 through 12:00 p.m. (ET), Sunday, May 21, 2023. The winners of the Hackathon will be announced on or around 8:00 p.m. (ET), Sunday, May 21, 2023.
4. How to Enter the Hackathon and Create a Submission: Entrants must register by creating and/or otherwise signing into their Devpost account, and clicking the “Join Hackathon” button. Once registered, you will be able to receive updates and draft your submission. Upon registration, you will have access to the platform and be able to complete a submission. Your entry in the Hackathon constitutes your consent for the ZeroBounce and Devpost to collect and maintain your personal information for the purpose of operating and publicizing the Hackathon. You must complete and enter all of the required fields on the “Enter a Submission” page of the Hackathon (each, a “Submission”) during the Hackathon Period and follow the Submission Requirements detailed below. The Submission must fulfill all of the Hackathon requirements, as specified herein, to be eligible to win a prize. Submissions that are not complete or do not adhere to the Official Rules may be disqualified at the sole discretion of ZeroBounce. If you use fraudulent methods or otherwise attempt to circumvent the Official Rules, your Submission may be removed from eligibility at the sole discretion of ZeroBounce.
5. Submission Requirements:
What to Create: Entrants must create a working software application that will take as an input a file containing a list of email addresses provided by ZeroBounce, to establish if each of the email addresses actually exist.
A Submission must meet the following requirements:
A) All materials must be in English or, if not in English, the Entrant must provide an English translation of the demonstration video, text description, and testing instructions as well as all other materials submitted;
B) Be built with the required developer tools;
C) Include a URL to your code repository for judging and testing;
D) Include a text description that explains the features and functionality of your Submission;
E) Be capable of being successfully deployed and running consistently on the platform for which it is intended and must function as expressed in the text description;
F) Be your original work product with no other person or entity having any right or interest in it;
G) Be either newly created by you or, if it was previously created by you prior to the Hackathon Submission Period, it must have been significantly updated after the start of the Hackathon Submission Period;
H) To the extent the Submission integrates with any third-party SDK, APIs, and/or data, you must be authorized to use such;
I) To the extent the Submission relies on use of open source software, you must comply with any applicable licenses;
J) To the extent the Submission includes software that runs on proprietary or third party hardware that is not widely available to the public, including software running on devices or wearable technology other than smartphones, tablets, or desktop computers, ZeroBounce reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to require you to provide physical access to such hardware upon request;
K) Not violate any applicable third party terms of service, or intellectual property rights, or applicable laws;
L) Not contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware, or other harmful or malicious code; and
M) You must make the Submission available free of charge and without any restriction, for testing, evaluation, and use by ZeroBounce and the judges until the judging period ends.
O) The methodology used un the submission must not inviolve sending an email to the addresses within the list provided.
You may submit more than one Submission, however, each Submission must be unique and substantially different from your other Submissions, as determined by ZeroBounce in its sole discretion. You may save draft Submission(s) on your Devpost account before formally submitting such for the Hackathon. After the Submission Period has ended, you may not make any changes or alterations to your Submission, unless required to do so. ZeroBounce reserves the right to require modification of Submissions, to the extent such modification may be required by applicable law.
6. Prizes:
Most accurate validation method - 1 winner - $3,000 cash value
Most innovative validation method - 1 winner - $2,000 cash value
Fastest validation method - 1 winner - $2,000 cash value
Actual/appraised value may differ at the time of the award of the prizes. The specifics of the prizes shall be solely determined by ZeroBounce. To the extent that no eligible Submissions are received during the Hackathon, ZeroBounce will not award a prize. The prize is nontransferable. Any and all prize related expenses, including without limitation any and all federal, state, and/or local taxes shall be the sole responsibility of the winner. No substitution of prize or transfer/assignment of prize to others or request for the cash equivalent by winners is permitted, except at ZeroBounce’s discretion. Acceptance of a prize constitutes permission for ZeroBounce to use the winner’s name(s), likeness(es), and Submission for purposes of advertising without further compensation, unless prohibited by law, as noted below in Section 8.
Winners must complete any forms requested by ZeroBounce, prior to receiving a prize. Winners are responsible for any fees associated with receiving a prize, including but not limited to any applicable taxes. 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.
Optional Further Collaboration: Sponsor reserves the right to offer to negotiate with any Entrant a right of first refusal and/or a collaboration, partnership, or business relationship with Entrant for the Submission therewith.
7. Winner selection and notification:
Submissions which meet the requirements detailed herein will be evaluated by three judges selected by ZeroBounce, who may consist of ZeroBounce employees. Judging will take place in the following stages, based on the determination of ZeroBounce:
Stage One: The first stage will determine via pass/fail whether the ideas meet a baseline level of viability, in that the Submission reasonably fits the theme and reasonably applies the required APIs/SDKs featured in the Hackathon.
Stage Two: All Submissions that pass Stage One will be evaluated in Stage Two based on the following equally weighted criteria (the “Judging Criteria”): accuracy, processing speed, methodology.
Entries will be judged on the following equally weighted criteria, and according to the sole and absolute discretion of the judges. The scores from the judges will determine the potential winners of the applicable prizes. The Entrant(s) that are eligible for a Prize, and whose Submissions earn the highest overall scores based on the applicable Judging Criteria, will become potential winners of that Prize.
Tie Breaking. For each Prize listed below, if two or more Submissions are tied, the tied Submission with the highest score in the first applicable criterion listed above will be considered the higher scoring Submission. In the event any ties remain, this process will be repeated, as needed, by comparing the tied Submissions’ scores on the next applicable criterion. If two or more Submissions are tied on all applicable criteria, the judges will vote on the tied Submissions.
Winners will be notified via public announcement on Devpost. ZeroBounce shall have no liability for a winner’s failure to receive or view notice. If the selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim the prize within 15 days from the time award notification was sent, or fails to timely return a completed and executed declaration and releases as required, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner selected.
A winner’s receipt of a prize offered in this Hackathon is conditioned upon their compliance with these Official Rules. ANY VIOLATION OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES BY ANY WINNER (IN ZEROBOUNCE’S SOLE DISCRETION) WILL RESULT IN SUCH WINNER'S DISQUALIFICATION FROM THE HACKATHON AND ALL PRIVILEGES AS WINNER WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED. In addition, THE AWARD OF A PRIZE TO A POTENTIAL WINNER IS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION OF THEIR IDENTITY. The final decision to designate a winner shall be made by ZeroBounce.
8. Publicity Rights Granted by you: By entering the Hackathon, you understand that Devpost, as well as ZeroBounce, anyone acting on behalf of ZeroBounce, or its respective licensees, successors and assigns will have the right, where permitted by law, without any further notice, review or consent to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use, worldwide in any media now known or hereafter for a period of three (3) years following the conclusion of the Hackathon, your Submission and any related materials, including, without limitation, the Submission and winner’s name, city, country of residence, and/or statements about the Hackathon as news, publicity, or information and for trade, advertising, public relations and promotional purposes without any further compensation.
9. Terms: ZeroBounce reserves the right, in its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Hackathon should (in its sole discretion) a virus, bug, non-authorized human intervention, fraud or other causes beyond its control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the Hackathon. ZeroBounce reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Hackathon or otherwise violates these Official Rules. Excluding Submissions, all intellectual property related to this Hackathon, including but not limited to copyrighted material, trademarks, tradenames, logos, designs, promotional materials, web pages, source codes, drawings, illustrations, slogans and representations are owned or used under license by ZeroBounce and/or Devpost.
10. Limitation of Liability: By participating in this Hackathon, you agree to release and hold harmless ZeroBounce, its parent, affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents (the “Released Parties”) from and against any liability, injury, loss, claim, damage, or cause of action directly or indirectly, arising out of or related to your participation in the Hackathon, or receipt or use of any prize, including, but not limited to: (a) unauthorized human intervention in the Hackathon; (b) technical errors; (c) errors in the administration of the Hackathon or the processing of entries; or (d) injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrant’s participation in the Hackathon or receipt or use of any prize. You further agree that in any cause of action, the Released Parties’ liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Hackathon, and in no event shall the Released Parties be liable for attorney’s fees. You waive the right to claim any damages from the Released Parties whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.
11. Disputes: Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Hackathon, you agree that any claims 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 Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (“JAMS”) pursuant to JAMS’ Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures, if applicable, or otherwise pursuant to its Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures and in accordance with the Expedited Procedures in those Rules. Further, 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. You hereby waive all rights to claim punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys’ fees, other than your actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., costs associated with entering this Hackathon), and further waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased. Any issues concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and/or enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the parties in connection with this Hackathon shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Nevada, without regard to 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.
12. Privacy Policy: Information submitted is subject to the Privacy Policy stated on https://info.devpost.com/privacy.
13. Updates: ZeroBounce reserves the right to change or update these Official Rules, at any time. Such change will take effect at the time of the posting.
14. Waiver: ZeroBounce’s failure to enforce any of the provisions contained in the Official Rules will not be deemed to imply or constitute a waiver of any rights.
15. Severability: If the Official Rules, or any part thereof, are determined to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that invalidity, illegality, or unenforceability shall not affect or impair any other provision herein, and the Official Rules shall be given full force and effect while being construed as if such invalid, illegal, or unenforceable provision(s) had not been contained in it. If the scope of any provision in the Official Rules is found to be too broad to permit enforcement of that provision to its full extent, each party consents to judicial modification of that provision and enforcement to the maximum extent permitted by law.