Mothers of Invention Contest Rules
Mom Inventors, Inc.
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
OFFICIAL RULES
"Good Morning America Weekend" Mothers of Invention Challenge
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.
Eligibility
Promotion is open only to female inventors who consider themselves to be or to have been a mom, who are legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C. and who are 18 years of age or older. For minors, entries must be accompanied by parental consent. Void outside of the United States and where prohibited. Any individuals (including but not limited to employees, consultants, independent contractors, and interns) who have, within six months prior to the start date of the Promotion and thereafter, performed services for American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Mom Inventors Inc., Amazon Services LLC, or any organization responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Promotion or supplying prizes, and/or their respective parent, subsidiary, affiliated and successor companies, and immediate family and household members of such individuals, are not eligible to enter or win. "Immediate family members" shall mean parents, step-parents, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses, regardless of where they live. "Household members" shall mean people who share the same residence at least three months a year, whether related or not.
Entry
"Good Morning America Weekend's" Mothers of Invention Challenge (the "Promotion") begins 7:00 am ET on February 10, 2007 and all entries should be postmarked by March 24, 2007 and must be received at the Post Office Box by April 2, 2007. All entrants must send a standard VHS, DVD, DV or Beta tape (other formats may not be considered), no longer than 3 minutes in length, discussing the origin and purpose of and showcasing their invention. The video must show the ACTUAL INVENTOR and, to her best ability, visually and verbally illustrating and describing her invention and its features and benefits. The inventor should also briefly describe herself and her family in the video tape submission. The video must be accompanied by an Invention Summary and Confidential Non-Disclosure Form , collectively the entry ("Entry"), to Good Morning America Weekend's Mothers of Invention Challenge, P.O. Box 830, Alamo, CA 94507. Only videotaped entries with accompanying AND signed paperwork will be accepted. Do not send prototypes of the invention with the entry. Entries to a post office box should be made using one of the available services of the United States Postal Service; post office boxes can not receive deliveries from an overnight or other courier delivery service other than those delivery services provided by the United States Postal Service. The entry must be from the actual inventor. Limit one entry per person for the Promotion. Multiple entries will result in the disqualification of all of your entries. All entries must be received at the PO Box address. Entries delivered to any other address will NOT be considered. Any previously submitted video tapes may not be in compliance with modified entry requirements. Entrants from prior years' challenges are strongly encouraged to update their submission.
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ("ABC"), Mom Inventors Inc, West & Associates, A PC. , and Amazon Services LLC (collectively "Sponsors") will not be responsible for late, lost, incomplete, illegible, damaged, garbled, technically corrupt, postage-due or misdirected entries. All entries should be postmarked by March 24, 2007 and must be received by April 2, 2007. No tapes, Invention Summary and Confidential Non-Disclosure Form, including video entries will be acknowledged or returned. All such tapes and documents will be securely stored and/or disposed of at the conclusion of the Promotion. Sponsors cannot provide technical support and accept no responsibility for insuring the receipt of or viewability of your entry.
It is the sole responsibility of the entrant to notify American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. in writing if the entrant changes his/her e-mail address or mailing address. To do so, write to: Good Morning America Weekend's Mother's of Invention Challenge, P.O. Box 830, Alamo, CA 94507. Notification must be received by April 19, 2007. By entering this Promotion, participants agree to these Official Rules and the decisions of judges and Sponsors, which are binding and final in all matters relating to this Promotion.
By entering, participants agree to indemnify, defend, release, discharge and hold harmless American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Mom Inventors Inc., West & Associates, A PC, Amazon Services LLC, and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliated companies, advertising and promotional agencies and prize suppliers and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives from any and all claims, liability, including but not limited to negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, including but not limited to death or personal injury arising out of a participant's participation in the Promotion and/or acceptance or use or misuse of prize, and any claims based on rights of privacy, rights of publicity, false light, defamation, copyright and/or trademark infringement. By entering this Promotion all finalists grant permission to the Sponsors to use their respective names, video tapes, photographs, likenesses, images, voices, prize information and/or biographical information (city and state only) for Good Morning America Weekend (including their licensees) programming, publication, publicity and promotional purposes without compensation, review or approval unless prohibited by law. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.
Additional Entry Limitations
The invention must be an original concept submitted by the inventor. Do not incorporate the protected works of others in your entry. Sponsors may disqualify such entries and take all other measures Sponsors may deem appropriate so as to protect their interests. Entries must not currently be entered in any other promotion, contest or competition. Entries that contain any content determined by Sponsors in their sole discretion as indecent, inappropriate, and morally objectionable or otherwise unfit for broadcast will be immediately disqualified. Entries not satisfying these Official Rules in any respect will be disqualified. In submitting the entry, entrant understands and agrees that the invention is a "submission" as defined in the Terms of Use of www.ABCNEWS.com; and, as such, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., subject to the terms of the Invention Summary and Confidential Non-Disclosure Form owns any and all rights to use the videotape. (For ABCNEWS.com's Terms of Use, direct your Internet browser to the Legal Terms page). In the event of a conflict between these Official Rules and the Terms of Use, the Official Rules shall govern.
Entrants, selected as finalists, further agree to sign any and all documents required by American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Mom Inventors, Inc., West & Associates, A PC, and/or Amazon Services LLC upon their request, so as to confirm, record and/or perfect their ownership rights in the entry. As a condition of the Promotion, for each individual entry, all entrants must fill out the Invention Summary and Confidential Non-Disclosure Form in their entireties, which are available at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/. This Invention Summary and Confidential Non-Disclosure Form must be included with the entrant's entry.
Entrants agree to accept all terms and conditions associated with acceptance of the Prize in the event they should be selected for further participation in the Promotion. If selected as the Grand Prize Winner, Entrants accept and understand that Mom Inventors, Inc. shall own all rights, title and interest, including, but not limited to, the right to apply for and receive any and all forms of intellectual property protection, of or related to the invention submitted by the Grand Prize Winner. Specifically, the Grand Prize Winner expressly agrees to execute an exclusive license agreement on substantially the same terms as presented here.
The Grand Prize Winner expressly agrees to execute any and all documents necessary to perfect any and all such intellectual property protection and/or any and all documents necessary to transfer and all interest of or related to the Grand Prize Winner's entry to Mom Inventors, Inc. in the event the Grand Prize Winner has already received issued patent(s) on the entry, and/or has applied for patent protection on the entry, the Grand Prize Winner expressly agrees to assign ownership rights in said issued patent(s) and/or patent application to Mom Inventors, Inc. in consideration of the Grand Prize awarded to the Grand Prize Winner.
By entering, Entrants agree they will not commit their product to any other manufacturer and/or entity in any manner during the course of the Promotion and expressly warrant that they have not previously committed their product to any other manufacturer and/or entity and their product is not currently for sale through non-direct distribution or direct distribution channels such as retail stores, catalogs, other mass outlets or online. All Entrants hereby grant exclusive right to Mom Inventors, Inc. to file a United States provisional patent application or other appropriate intellectual property documents on their behalf on or before May 11, 2007, and agree to execute all requisite forms and associated documents required as part of such provisional patent or other intellectual property applications. However, Mom Inventors, Inc. shall not be obligated to file any such provisional patent application. A provisional patent application may be filed by Mom Inventors, Inc., at their sole discretion, with no charge to the selected Entrant(s). Any provisional patent application filed will list Entrant as the Inventor. All Entrants agree to grant Mom Inventors, Inc. together with its authorized licensees the right of first refusal to negotiate a license deal for their entries with not only Finalists but also any Entrant who has made a entry for which a patent application, provisional or otherwise, has been filed on or before May 11, 2007 by Mom Inventors, Inc.
Entrants understand, recognize and accept that Mom Inventors, Inc. has access to, may create or has created materials and ideas which may be similar or identical to the submitted confidential information in concept, theme, idea, format or other respects. Entrants understand, recognize and accept that often similar or identical submissions are received and that in the event their entry is identical or similar to the entry of another entrant, the Sponsors reserve the right to select one entry over said identical or similar entry at the sole discretion of the Official Judging Panel without obligation to further explain, justify or validate this decision to any inventor.
Entrants understand and accept that American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ("ABC") has an extensive history of creating and developing television segments and programs. Such development activities have preceded this promotion and will continue thereafter. Entrants' entries shall not be construed as any acknowledgement or admission that the same or a similar idea has not previously been created and/or developed by ABC. Entrants further acknowledge that ABC, or its parent company, engages in extensive activities in creating, acquiring and developing literary, artistic, musical, design and other material, including stories, ideas, themes, plots, titles, screenplays, formats, concepts for attractions, parks and other developments and other materials (collectively, the "ABC Material"). Moreover, the ABC Material which ABC may hereafter use may have originated with or may have been acquired from ABC employees or others and may duplicate, parallel or resemble the inventions.
Judging
The Official Judging Panel, consisting of representatives from Mom Inventors Inc., West & Associates, A PC, representatives of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc, Amazon Services LLC and other sponsors, if any, is selected at the sole discretion of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. The judging panel will then select the top three (3) invention entries from all eligible entries received. The judging of the inventions will be based on the following criteria: (1) the creativity and originality of the entry; (2) the quality and persuasiveness of entrant's reasoning on why the invention has value; (3) the benefit to people; (4) the marketability of the invention. The definition of "Invention" and "Originality" is to be solely and subjectively determined by Mom Inventors, Inc. and ABC. An interview with the inventor, conducted at the sole discretion of the judges, may also be required. The judging will be conducted commencing on or about Monday, April 2, 2007 through or about May 11, 2007. During that time, selected inventors may be required to submit additional requested information to assist in sponsor/judges due diligence research, regarding patents, and background checks, etc. The finalists of the potential winning inventions will be notified by mail and/or phone and/or email. Potential winners will be required to sign and return within 7 business days of receipt an Affidavit of Eligibility, Release and Indemnification, a Publicity Release where allowed by law, as well as other documents that Sponsor may require. If any potential winner does not reply to such notification within 2 business days, an e-mail notification is undeliverable after up to 3 attempts and/or the Affidavit of Eligibility, Release and Indemnification, a Publicity Release and/or any other required documents are not returned by potential winner (and/or essay subject, as appropriate) to Sponsors within specified time period, such potential winner may be disqualified and an alternate potential winner selected (i.e., the entry ranked immediately below the disqualified entry in the judging), this process may continue until another potential winner is selected. Select entrants may be subjected to criminal and civil background checks, as well as patent searches, as determined at the sole discretion of the sponsors.
GMA Profiles & Grand Prize Voting: Each of the inventors of the top three entries ("Finalists") must be willing to work with Mom Inventors Inc. and producers of ABC News programs, Good Morning America Weekend and/or other Sponsors. The Finalists must also be available to appear, at producers' discretion, on live broadcasts of Good Morning America Weekend in May 2007. After the segment highlighting the Finalists is broadcast on Good Morning America Weekend, on or about May 12, 2007, viewers will be invited to log onto www.GMAWEEKEND.ABCNews.com to vote, based on the same judging criteria listed above, for the one invention they feel most deserves to be manufactured and distributed. Viewers must cast their votes on or about May 13, 2007 before 12:01 am. The dates for voting are subject to change due to possible pre-emption or other reasons. In the event dates of voting should change Good Morning America Weekend will announce and post on-line as necessary. The Finalist who receives the greatest number of votes will be selected as the Grand Prize Winner on or about Sunday, May 13, 2007, Good Morning America Weekend will announce which of the Finalists has received the most votes (i.e. the "Winner"). In the event of a tie the Finalist with the highest score in the greatest invention benefit category will be deemed the Winner. In the event that the Winner is disqualified, the highest vote-getter of the remaining Finalists will be selected as the Winner.
Grand Prize:
The Grand Prize Winner, by winning, is automatically entering into a licensing agreement with Mom Inventors Inc. for the manufacturing, promotion and distribution of their entry. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $10,000 plus a royalty of 5% of net sales for all time periods during which Mom Inventors, Inc makes commercial sales of a product based on the Entry, as more fully explained in the form license agreement. During such time periods Mom Inventors, Inc. shall make best efforts to make commercial sales of the product. At any time, on 60 days written notice, Mom Inventors, Inc., at its sole discretion, shall have the right to stop selling the product and may, at its sole discretion, assign all right, title and interest in any intellectual property associated with the product to the Grand Prize Winner. The Grand Prize Winner shall not make, use, sell, transfer, license or otherwise encumber any intellectual property associated with the product or entry, except as required hereunder, during such times as any/all intellectual property rights associated with the product and/or Entry are in full force and effect. Net sales shall be defined as selling price less costs of manufacture, costs of shipping, costs of packaging, costs of promotion, costs of insurance, overhead costs, volume discounts and returns and allowances. Federal, state and local taxes on any winnings and royalties are the sole responsibility of the winner, who will receive an IRS Form 1099 reflecting the final actual value of any prize valued at $600 or more. You should consult a tax professional for a full explanation of any potential tax implications. Winners are not entitled to exchange or transfer prize or to obtain any other substitution, but Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may substitute prizes of equal or greater value due to prize unavailability or for any reason. The Sponsors in their sole discretion may provide airfare and hotel accommodations for Finalists and/or the Winner as deemed necessary. The Grand Prize Winner will also receive a $1000.00 gift certificate from amazon.com for use to purchase merchandise on its website.
Prizes for Two Other Finalists
Each of the other two finalists will receive a $1000.00 gift certificate from amazon.com.
Restrictions
For Broadcast: The three Finalists agree to make themselves available to participate in the broadcast profiles, live appearances on ABC-TV. Finalists understand and agree that, if any Finalist is NOT available for the Profiles, or in the event such background research reveals information leading the Sponsors, in their sole discretion, to determine that the Finalist should be disqualified, that entry will be disqualified and an alternate entry will be selected based on the next highest score given based on the above-stated judging criteria and this process may continue until three finalists are selected. In the alternative, the Promotion may, in Sponsors' discretion, proceed with only two Finalists. All arrangements are subject to change, availability and Sponsors' approval, including but not limited to the production schedule of Good Morning America Weekend. The Finalists must agree to follow any and all instructions of producers during taping of the Profiles and live appearances, as determined in their sole discretion and not engage in conduct that violates the broadcast standards of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., as determined by American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., in its sole discretion. The content, location and live appearances will be determined by American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Good Morning America Weekend.
The Finalists agree (1) that ABC may, but is not obligated to, broadcast or re-broadcast, in whole or in part, in any format or medium, including but not limited to the world wide web, the taped Profiles, the live broadcast of Good Morning America Weekend including the taped Profiles and/or footage of or information about the Finalist, without notification or compensation; (2) that Mom Inventors Inc. may, but is not obligated to, promote the challenge, in any format about Winner and/or other finalists, without notification or further compensation and may include any and all materials which were part of the original entry or subsequently became a part of the entry as part of that promotion; and (3) to sign any and all appearance releases and other documents which may be required by Sponsors in conjunction with acceptance of the prize. Nothing herein in any way obligates Sponsors to include the taped Profiles, in whole or in part, in any broadcast of Good Morning America Weekend or any other program.
The Grand Prize Winner agrees to provide her name and/or likeness for use in conjunction with the promotion and sale of her invention on both mominventors.com and amazon.com.
General
All expenses not specifically provided for herein are the Finalist's sole responsibility. Some additional restrictions may apply. By entering, Entrant grants American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. and Mom Inventors Inc. the right to use their name, voice, likeness, entry, biographical information, story and/or performance in connection with Good Morning America Weekend, such may be broadcast, distributed, published or exhibited in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, throughout the world, in perpetuity, and in any and all advertising and publicizing thereof.
