1. LEGAL TERMS: By submitting an Entry (as defined herein) to the Quick Connect Challenge (the “Competition”), you are agreeing to be bound by the following legal terms (“Official Rules”). The Official Rules also incorporate by reference the additional terms specified at https://grabcad.com/challenges/ge-quick-connect-challenge (the “Competition Website”). THESE OFFICIAL RULES SUPERSEDE ANY OTHER RULES AND TERMS & CONDITIONS ON THE WEBSITE OF ADMINISTRATOR GRABCAD TO THE EXTENT THERE IS ANY CONFLICT OF TERMS.
2. SPONSORS; ADMINISTRATOR: The Competition is administered by GrabCAD (“Administrator”), 38 Cameron Drive, Suite 250, Massachusetts 02142 on behalf of General Electric Company, 3135 Easton Parkway, Fairfield, CT 06828 (“GE” or “Prize Sponsor”). Administrator GrabCAD and Prize Sponsor are collectively referred to as “Competition Sponsors” or “Sponsors.”
3. COMPETITION DATES: The Competition commences at 7:00 am ET on February 9, 2015 and ends 5:00 pm ET on March 9, 2015.
4. GENERAL INFORMATION: Participation is subject to all federal, state and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Multiple Entries are permitted. Each Entry will be reviewed independently. Multiple individuals or entities may collaborate to submit a single Entry, but a single individual must be designated as an official representative for each Entry. You are responsible for checking applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction before participating in the Competition to make sure that your participation is legal. You are responsible for abiding by your employer's policies regarding participation in the Competition. If you are entering on behalf of a business partnership, company, institution or other such relationship, you are responsible for confirming with your partnership, company, institution or other such relationship that your Entry does not violate any policies set by that partnership, company, institution or other such relationship. Sponsors disclaim any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between you and your employer related to this Competition. You are responsible for all taxes and reporting related to any award that you may receive as part of the Competition. You may be subject to background screenings as needed to assure the Sponsors’ legal compliance.
5. ELIGIBILITY: The Competition is open to all individuals over the age of 18 or the age of majority in said individual’s geographic location and to all validly formed legal entities that have not declared or been declared in bankruptcy. Employees and contractors of GE and GrabCAD and any of their respective affiliates or subsidiaries are not eligible to enter.
You are solely responsible for all equipment, as well as all costs incurred by you or on your behalf associated with participating in the Competition, including but not necessarily limited to, a computer and modem necessary to establish a connection to the World Wide Web; access to the World Wide Web and any related telephone, data, hosting or other service fees associated with such access, as well as all costs incurred by you or on your behalf in participating in the Competition.
6. HOW TO ENTER: To enter, you must first create an account on www.grabcad.com (unless you already have such an account, in which case you need not create another account but can simply enter your user name and password). All of the registration information that you provide is collectively referred to as your "Account. At the Competition Website you will find further instructions. You must submit your completed proposal (hereinafter your “Entry” and referenced interchangeably as your “proposal,” “submission” and/or “response” on the Competition Website) following the instructions provided on the Competition Website. By submitting your Entry, you formally accept the Official Rules for this Competition.
By registering and submitting an Entry, you agree that (a) all required fields are complete and all information in your Account is correct and accurate; and (b) your registration may be rejected or terminated and all Entries submitted by you may be disqualified if any of the information in your Account is (or Sponsors have reasonable grounds to believe it is) incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate. You are solely responsible for your Account. Registration information is collected by GrabCAD in the United States, on behalf of the Prize Sponsor, and may be transferred elsewhere globally as needed for the purposes of the Competition and Prize Sponsor’s business purposes.
Each registrant is referred to as an "Entrant" in these Official Rules and as “Entrant” or “Respondent” on the Competition Website.
All Entries must be in English. Entry attachments may be submitted in .step, .stp, .iges, .igs, .stl, .pdf, .xls, .xlsx, .doc, docx, .ppt, or .pptx formats. CAD files in any format also are acceptable. Links to publicly available online videos (e.g., YouTube) can be included in your Entry. There is a maximum limit of 10MB for your complete Entry, including supplemental attachments.
Sponsors are not responsible for (a) late, lost, stolen, damaged, garbled, incomplete, incorrect or misdirected Entries or other communications, (b) errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, or delays in operations or transmission of information, in each case whether arising by way of technical or other failures or malfunctions of computer hardware, software, communications devices, or transmission lines, or (c) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of Entry materials, loss or other issues related to data such as quality, access or security.. Sponsors are not responsible for electronic communications or emails which are undeliverable as a result of any form of active or passive filtering of any kind, or insufficient space in any email account to receive email messages. Sponsors disclaim any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participation in, or accessing or downloading of information in connection with, the Competition.
Sponsors reserve the right to modify, remove or add data to the Competition Website upon notice to Entrants via email using the email address associated with their Accounts and/or by such other reasonable means as Sponsors may determine. Sponsors reserve the right in their sole discretion to extend or modify the dates of Challenge and/or Entry submission dates, and to change the terms of these Official Rules governing any portion thereof taking place after the effective date of any such change upon notice to Entrants, via email using the email address associated with their Accounts and/or by such other reasonable means as Sponsors may determine. Entrants are urged to consult the Competition Website regularly during the Competition.
Sponsors shall have the right to remove any blog comment or posting related to the Competition from the Competition Website in their sole discretion at any time and for any reason.
BY REGISTERING FOR THE COMPETITION, YOU ACCEPT THE CONDITIONS STATED IN THESE OFFICIAL RULES, AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE DECISIONS OF THE JUDGES AND WARRANT THAT YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COMPETITION. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT ALL OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES, THEN PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT TO THE COMPETITION. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU PRINT A COPY OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE.
7. COMPETITION OBJECTIVE: The objective of the Competition is to design a brick connection into a collection cavity that is reliable, has a watertight seal, is quick to connect and can be retrofitted into current assemblies.
8. ENTRY CRITERIA GUIDELINES: Entrants will submit Entries via instructions on the Competition Website. Entries will serve as an introduction to Entrant’s approach, background and expertise, and should have the following characteristic (BUT SHOULD NOT DISCLOSE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION):
- Part dimensions must maintain dimensions of section B:B in Fig 1 on Competition Website (Fig 1 also available in pdf and CAD file formats via links on Competition Website);
- Cavity ideally one piece but can be made out of two or more;
- Fixed and modifiable dimensions according to attached drawing;
- Materials (should be compatible to work in a water environment with a temperature range of 1 to 40 degrees centigrade):
- Brick: Currently urethane (poured into a shaped manufacturing mold)—but open alternative materials,
- Cavity: Injection molded plastic,
- Sealing: To be defined in your proposal,
- Quick connect elements: To be defined in your proposal;
- Sealing: Water tight seal; holds -1 to +3 bars of pressure (pressurized volume shown in Fig. 1, Section D); and
- Expertise and capabilities of Entrant.
Entries also must include the following:
- Standard for Exchange of Product (.STEP) or Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (.IGES) version file;
- Computer-Aided Design (CAD) file in any format;
- Evidence demonstrating that sealing will meet technical requirements (data sheet, calculation, etc.); and
(Note: Inclusion of a Stereolithography (STL) file is optional)
Entries will be evaluated using Entry Judging criteria (defined herein). Up to five (5) of the most promising Entries will be selected as prize winners.
9. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP AND RIGHTS TO USE:
The intent of the Competition is to encourage people to suggest their ideas and innovations to Sponsors. Participation in this Competition does not create an obligation on either your part or GE’s part to negotiate or enter into any business relationship or to sign any commercial agreement. By submitting an Entry and participating in this Competition, you are not granting Sponsors any rights to any patents or pending patent applications related to the technology described in your Entry and Sponsors make no claim to ownership of your Entry or any intellectual property that it may contain. . Prior to acceptance of the Prize, you are free to discuss your Entry and the ideas or technologies that it contains with other parties and you are free to contract with any third party provided you do not sign any agreement or undertake any obligations that conflict with any agreement that you have entered into or subsequently enter into with GE regarding your Entry.
By submitting an Entry and participating in this Competition, you do grant Sponsors certain limited rights, as set forth in these Official Rules. By submitting an Entry, you consent to the use, by Sponsors, their affiliates, subsidiaries, parents, and licensees, of your name, likeness, image, biographical information, prize information (if an award winner), your company or institution name (if your Entry is from a company or institution) and any other personal data submitted with your Entry and the contents in your Entry (including any created works, such as YouTube videos), in connection with the Competition, in any media or format now known or hereafter invented, in any and all locations worldwide, without any payment to or further approval from you. You agree that this consent is perpetual and cannot be revoked. For uses of personal data beyond the aforementioned limited rights which you have granted, see the Official Rule herein regarding Privacy.
By accepting a Prize, you (a) agree to and do hereby grant to GE and its designees, a worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, transferable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works from, publicly perform, publicly display, digitally perform, make, have made, sell, offer for sale and import your winning Entry and to develop or have developed the technology described in your Entry, in any media now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without further approval by or payment to Entrant (the "License") and (b) represent that you have the unrestricted right to grant the License.
You agree that nothing in the Official Rules grants you a right or license to use the GE name or any GE trademark or service mark. You grant to Sponsors the right to include your company name (if your Entry is from a company) as an Entrant on the Competition Website and in materials related to Sponsors promotion of the Competition. Other than these uses, you are not granting Sponsors any rights to your trademarks.
10. PRIVACY: Personal data you provided in connection with your Entry will be used for purposes described in the Official Rules and used and protected as described by the Privacy Policy posted on the GE Website at http://www.ge.com/privacy. Personal Data may be shared by the Sponsors for the purposes described in these Official Rules.
11. CONFIDENTIALITY: Since Sponsors do not wish to receive or hold any submitted materials “in confidence,” it is agreed that, with respect to your Entry, no confidential relationship or obligation of secrecy is established between Sponsors and you, the company you represented when submitting an Entry, or the owner of any part of your Entry. HOWEVER, IF YOUR ENTRY IS SELECTED AS A PRIZE WINNER, GE WILL REQUIRE YOU TO SIGN A CONFIDENTIALITY/NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT ABOUT THE SUBJECT MATTER OF YOUR ENTRY AND THE “ENTRY IP” (AS DEFINED HEREIN). Sponsors shall have no liability or responsibility for use by any other individual or Entity of any aspect of your Entry.
12. WARRANTIES: By submitting an Entry, you represent and warrant that all information in your Entry and that you submit via the Competition Website is true and complete to the best of your knowledge, that you have the right and authority to submit the Entry and disclose the information therein on your own behalf or on behalf of the persons and entities that you specify within the Entry, and that your Entry (both the information and materials submitted in the Entry and the underlying technology/method/idea described in the Entry):
(a) is your own original work and representative of your capability, or is submitted by permission with full and proper credit given within your Entry;
(b) does not contain confidential information or trade secrets (yours or anyone else’s);
(c) does not, to the best of your knowledge, violate or infringe upon the patent rights, industrial design rights, copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity;
(d) does not contain malicious code, such as viruses, malware, timebombs, cancelbots, worms, Trojan horses or other potentially harmful programs or other material or information;
(e) does not and will not violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, rule, regulation, confidentiality agreement or other agreement; and
(f) does not trigger any reporting or royalty or other obligation to any third party.
A breach of any warranty set out in this provision of the Official Rules will result in the corresponding Entry being invalid. In addition, you agree to indemnify Sponsors against all loss, damages and costs incurred by the Sponsors arising from your breach of the warranty.
13. JUDGING: Entries will be evaluated by a panel of at least (5) five judges comprised of GE employees with expertise in industrial components and design (collectively the “Judges Panel” or “Judges”).
Entries will be evaluated based on compliance with Entry Criteria Guidelines (as specified herein) as well as upon a combination of the following (collectively the “Judging Criteria”).
- Suitability of the Brick connection for mass production (e.g., use of element production technology such as molding, machining, welding) and simplicity of assembly;
- Simplicity of design (e.g., whether the parts feature simple geometries and assembly);
- Reliability of seal (e.g., minimum space utilization required for seal; seal is water tight for the range of -1 to +3 bars of pressure);
- Ability to connect quickly (e.g., connects or cures in less than 10 minutes);
- Permanency or removability of connection (A permanent connection is acceptable but a removable connection is preferred); and
- Entrant’s capabilities and experience.
Judging will occur during the period of March, 2015 to June, 2015. Up to five (5) Entries that meet the Judging Criteria will be selected as prize winners.
ALL DECISIONS OF GRABCAD, GE AND THE JUDGES PANEL WILL BE FINAL AND BINDING ON ALL MATTERS RELATING TO THIS CHALLENGE.
14. AWARDS: Prize Sponsor will announce the prize winners via the Competition Website, as well as further requirements for receiving the awards. Up to (5) five Entries will each be awarded a cash prize of $2000. USD (the “Prize”). The potential prize winners will be notified by Prize Sponsor on or about June, 2015.
All potential winners will be notified by the e-mail address provided in the Entry. Return of any notification as “undeliverable” will result in disqualification. Potential Prize winners are subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. Sponsors reserve the right to examine Entries for compliance with the Competition Rules. Prize winners may, subject to applicable laws and regulations, be screened to ensure they are not included on any Government Watch List.
AS A CONDITION FOR RECEIPT OF A PRIZE, PRIZE WINNERS WILL BE REQUIRED TO EXECUTE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, A DECLARATION OF ELIGIBILITY AND RELEASE AND A CONFIDENTIALITY/NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
As a further condition of receipt of the Prize, prize winners (including at a minimum the Team Leader if Prize Winner is a Team) must agree to participate in a one-hour debrief via telephone or video conference with a representative of Sponsors to take place within two months following the announcement of Prize Winners. Sponsors reserve the right in their sole discretion to waive this obligation.
All decisions of the Sponsor and Judges will be final and binding on all matters relating to this Competition. After verification of eligibility, prize awards will be distributed via PayPal (http://grabcad.com/faq#money) to the official representative specified in the winning Entry. That official representative will have sole responsibility for further distribution of the Prize among participants in a group Entry or within a company or institution that has submitted an Entry through that representative. No substitution or transfer of prizes is permitted. The Prize will be awarded per winning Entry, not per Entrant or number of persons involved in the Entry. All Awards are a one-time offer and there is no offer of licensure, royalty, or other financial compensation implied beyond the Award. You are responsible for all taxes and reporting related to any Award that you receive as part of the Competition.
This is a contest of skill. Whether or not your Entry is determined as a winner depends on how your Entry compares to the other Entries submitted in the Competition when evaluated based on the Judging criteria.
15. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: By participating in the Competition, you agree to release, indemnify and hold harmless GE, GrabCAD, and their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotions agencies, as applicable, and each of their respective agents, representatives, officers, directors, shareholders, and employees (collectively, “Sponsor Entities”) and the Judging Panel from and against any injuries, losses, damages, claims, actions and any liability of any kind (including attorneys’ fees) resulting from or arising out of your participation in, association with or submission to the Competition (including any claims alleging that your Entry infringes, misappropriates or violates any third party’s intellectual property rights). Sponsor Entities and the Judging Panel are not responsible for any miscommunications such as technical failures related to computer, telephone, cable, and unavailable network or server connections, related technical failures, or other failures related to hardware, software or virus, or incomplete, late or misdirected Entries. Any compromise to the fair and proper conduct of this Competition may result in the disqualification of an Entry, termination of the Competition, or other remedial action, at the sole discretion of the Sponsors. GE and GrabCAD reserve the right in their sole discretion to extend or modify the dates of the Competition, and to change the terms of these Official Rules governing any Phase or portion thereof taking place after the effective date of any such change. By entering, you agree to these Official Rules and to all decisions of GE, GrabCAD, and/or all of their respective agents, which are final and binding in all respects.
16. NO OBLIGATION: You acknowledge that multiple participants may submit Entries that contain designs, concepts or technologies similar to your Entry and that GE, and/or its respective subsidiaries and business partners may already be investigating or developing technical solutions or business activities that are related or similar to those that you disclose in your Entry. You acknowledge and agree that GE’s actions with respect to another Entry or one of its own solutions or business activities, even if similar to your Entry, shall not create in GE any liability to you or others. Further, GE is not or shall not be restricted in any way from pursuing, developing, or commercializing, in any way that they see fit, independent of you and at its sole discretion, any technology that is created independent of your Entry. For the avoidance of doubt, you acknowledge that GE is not obligated to take any action whatsoever with regard to your Entry.
17. SEVERABILITY: The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Official Rules shall otherwise remain in effect and be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision was not contained herein.
18. WAIVER: By entering the Competition, you waive all rights to seek injunctive or equitable relief, or to claim punitive, incidental or consequential damages, or attorneys’ fees.
19. APPLICABLE LAW: You agree that these terms and the relationship between you and the Sponsors shall be governed by the laws of the United States and the State of New York.
You acknowledge and agree that all aspects and content of your Entry, including the Entry IP (as defined herein), shall be treated as if made in the United States and United States laws relating to patents, inventions, assignments and compensation shall supersede the relevant laws of any country in which the Entry, including the Entry IP, may have been conceived and/or made.
For Entrants living outside the United States, you specifically acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in these Official Rules and in the Privacy Policy for the Competition Website and consent to having your data transferred to and processed in the United States and in other countries as needed for GE’s business purposes.
