ARTICLE 1 – ORGANIZATION OF THE HACKATHON

HEDERA 2021 (the “Hackathon”) is a global virtual skills competition sponsored by Hedera Hashgraph, LLC and its members, including without limitation Swirlds, Inc., located at 3400 N. Central Expressway, Suite 470B, Richardson, TX 75080 (collectively, “Hedera”) for the rapid deployment of decentralized applications on the Hedera Hashgraph platform in categories such as gaming, supply chain, social causes, micropayments, and IoT. The Hackathon and all participants, entries and submissions, including code, are subject to and governed by the Hedera Terms, Hedera’s Privacy Policy, and these official rules (collectively, the “Official Rules”).

The Hackathon begins on [January 19th, 2021 9am PST and ends on February 12th at 11:59pm PST]] (the “Hackathon Period”). All times referenced throughout these Official Rules and during the Hackathon are in PST time. All dates, times, and locations are subject to change where required under applicable law or due to circumstances beyond Hedera’s control. Changes in dates and times will be communicated to the Participant as soon as practicable. More Hackathon details can be found at [Hedera21.devpost.com].

By registering for and/or participating in the Hackathon, you agree to the Official Rules. Please read them carefully. Hedera’s decisions concerning the Official Rules or any other matter relating to the Hackathon are final and binding.

For purposes of these Official Rules, “Participant” means any individual who registers for, participates in, and submits a project to, or otherwise assists any other Participant in, the Hackathon and who is part of the registered group of people identified in the Hackathon registration form found at [Hedera21.devpost.com] required for entry; and “Platform” means the Hedera Hashgraph distributed ledger technology, code, and related software assets owned or licensed by Hedera.

Participant agrees that their participation in the Hackathon constitutes agreement to these Official Rules. These Official Rules form a binding legal agreement between Participant and Hedera with respect to the Hackathon.

ARTICLE 2 – ELIGIBILITY

Participants that do not comply with the following requirements may be rejected or disqualified by Hedera in its sole discretion (the “Eligibility Requirements”):

    1. Participant must not be a person residing in any country embargoed by the United States and/or subject to U.S. export controls or sanctions (including without limitation Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria and North Korea), or any other jurisdiction where the Hackathon is otherwise prohibited, licensed, restricted or taxed by applicable federal, state, territorial, provincial or local laws, rules or regulations and any other country designated by the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. It is Participant’s responsibility to ensure that Participant is legally eligible to enter the Hackathon and receive a prize under any laws applicable to Participant in their jurisdiction of residence or otherwise.
    2. This Competition is not open to Participants who are not legal residents of one of the eligible jurisdictions at the time of entry or who otherwise do not fall within the eligibility requirements set forth in these Official Rules herein.
    3. Participant must be 18 years of age or older and at least the age of majority in their jurisdiction or residence at the time of the start of the Hackathon.
    4. Participant must have a demonstrated ability to develop or contribute to the development of an application on the Platform.
    5. Employees, contractors, consultants, officers, directors, agents, managers and members of Hedera and other organizing entities, including the judges (collectively referred to herein as the “Competition Entities”), and their immediate family members (spouses, siblings, children (by birth and adoption), and parents) regardless of where they live, and those living in the same household as such individuals (whether or not related) are not eligible to enter the Competition.
    6. Each Participant or team must develop and submit a software application built on the Platform (“Entry”) within the Hackathon Period. For avoidance of doubt, the Entry shall also include any materials provided in connection with the Entry.

No purchase necessary to enter or win. The odds of winning depend on the total number of submitted Entries from eligible Participants.

ARTICLE 3 – REGISTRATION PROCESS

Prior to the Hackathon Period, each person meeting the Eligibility Requirements that wishes to participate in the Hackathon can register online on the dedicated website at the following address [Hedera21.devpost.com].

Registrants must create an account with Devpost.com before registering for the Hedera21 hackathon. They will need to provide the following information: last name, first name and email for the purpose of the Hackathon, and any other information requested on the registration website. After successfully creating an account on Devpost, registrants will then be able to register for the Hedera21 hackathon. During this registration process you will be asked if you are participating as an individual or a team, how you heard about the hackathon, how familiar you are with Hedera Hashgraph and what other blockchain technologies have you used in the past.This information is required for the completion of their application. Each candidate represents and warrants that the information entered in the application to the Hackathon is complete and accurate and agrees to update such information if it changes at any time prior to the conclusion of the Hackathon Period. Any false, incorrect or incomplete information discovered at any time, including after the Hackathon Period, will automatically result in the disqualification of the Participant.

Teams must consist of one (1) to five (5) participants and each individual team member must meet the Eligibility Requirements. Participants can only be listed on one team and not serve on multiple teams during the Hackathon.

Each team must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Team Representative”) to represent, act, and submit an Entry on its behalf. The Team Representative will be the point of contact for the Hackathon and shall be responsible for relevant winner notification and prize acceptance requirements set forth below. By submitting an Entry on behalf of a team, the Team Representative represents and warrants that he/she is the representative authorized to act on behalf of the team. If a Team Representative is disqualified prior to the beginning of the Hackathon Period, the team must designate a replacement prior to the beginning of the Hackathon Period to remain eligible. If a Team Representative is disqualified after the start of the Hackathon Period, the entire team will be automatically disqualified.

Hedera and the Organizer reserve the right to reject an application at any time if the Participant or team does not comply with these Official Rules and the Hackathon standards.

Competition Entities assume no responsibility for lost, late, incomplete, inaccurate, stolen, misdirected, or illegible entries; nor for any computer, telephone, cable network, electronic or Internet hardware or software malfunctions, failures, connections, or availability, or garbled, corrupt, or jumbled transmissions; nor for service provider, Internet, web sites, user net accessibility or availability, traffic congestion, or unauthorized human intervention or any technical error; nor for unauthorized human intervention, human error, or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of information; nor for the failure to capture any such information.

ARTICLE 4 – ENTRY WARRANTY

By entering this Hackathon, each Participant and/or Team Representative hereby represents, warrants and agrees to produce written evidence of such if requested, that: 

(i) The Entry, in whole and in part, is an original work and has not been previously published, sold, or submitted in any other competition, promotion, contest, or hackathon;

(ii) The Entry, in whole and in part, does not violate or infringe upon any privacy rights, third-party rights, including proprietary or intellectual property rights such as: copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, personal or moral rights, or any other rules or regulations;

(iii) The Entry, in whole and in part, is submitted to the Hackathon by or with the permission of all persons (living or deceased), venues and/or entities who worked on, were engaged to work on, or contributed in any respect to the Entry or any part thereof, who are depicted (directly or indirectly) in the Entry by name, likeness, voice, image or any other information or indicia of persona, or who otherwise have any right, title and interest in and to the Entry or any part thereof (including but not limited to rights arising from a work for hire relationship), and all such persons, venues, and/or entities have provided their written consent to submission of the Entry and its use pursuant to these Official Rules;

(iv) Participant has all other rights, licenses, permissions, and consents necessary to submit the Entry and to grant all of the rights granted to the Competition Entities in these Official Rules (and in any written Agreement signed by Participant), and the exercise thereof by the Competition Entities and/or the use by them of the rights granted by Participant, in whole or in part, does not and will not give rise to any alleged or actual claims, disputes, actions or liabilities, including but not limited to those for disputes or payment of any kind, including without limitation royalties, residuals, attribution, credit, dues, consultation or any other fees, costs, or expenses;

(v) The Entry in whole or in part contains no malware, including without limitation viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, or any other harmful software, code, or other devices; 

(vi) The Entry in whole or in part contains no pornographic, sexually explicit (including nudity), defamatory, offensive, violent, discriminatory, cruel, abusive, highly sensitive, grossly harmful, harassing, invading someone else’s privacy, libelous, threatening, hateful, racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatsoever, harm minors in any way, deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of such messages or communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature, impersonate another person, contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource, threatens the unity, integrity, defense, security or sovereignty of a jurisdiction, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or illegal content, and/or technology or other content that is prohibited from export, content of an obscene or menacing character, prevents investigation of any offense, and does not otherwise offend against reasonable standards of taste and decency;

(vii) The Entry in whole or in part does not contain information considered by Participant, its employer, or any other third party to be confidential;

(viii) The Entry in whole or in part (including without limitation, the code), except for code disclosed to Hedera prior to the end of the Hackathon Period, was not developed in any substantive form prior to the event, though ideation, research, documentation, and material gathering are permitted without disclosure. In the event an Entry incorporates code developed prior to the Hackathon, only the code and functionality additionally developed during the Hackathon Period will be considered by the judges.

ARTICLE 5 – ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

In order to be eligible for this Hackathon, the submitted Entry, in whole and in part (and its Participant) must comply with all other terms stated in these Official Rules.

Entries that do not comply with the following requirements may be rejected by Hedera in its sole discretion (the “Entry Requirements”):

    1. Entries must not exploit bugs in the Platform, or otherwise violate the spirit of the Hackathon.
    2. Entries must not attempt to harm Hedera or otherwise create an unfair advantage over other Participants.
    3. Entries must not be in violation of any applicable law, regulation or third-party rights.
    4. Entries must not include information or content that is false, fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, defamatory, threatening, trade libelous, slanderous, libelous, disparaging, unlawfully harassing, profane, obscene, pornographic, hateful, indecent, inappropriate or injurious to any individual, Hedera, or any third party.
    5. All Entry materials must be in English or, if not in English, the Participant must provide an English translation of the Entry as well as of all other materials submitted.
    6. Entries must be made available to Hedera, free of charge and without any restriction, for testing, evaluation and use by Hedera and judges during the Hackathon Period. If the Entry 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, Hedera reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to require the Participant to provide physical access to the hardware upon request.
    7. Entries must be fully completed and submitted during the Hackathon Period in order to be eligible for judging.

Submitted Entries will only be accepted from eligible Participants with full rights to do so, either on their own behalf, or on behalf of their team. 

Each individual Participant or team may only submit one Entry. Submission of an Entry shall require sharing the Participant’s code with Competition Entities. No more than one (1) prize will be awarded per team. 

Participant hereby grants to Hedera a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, and royalty-free right and license to use, store, copy, distribute and publicly display Participant’s Entry, in whole or in part, in order to evaluate, score, advertise and promote such Entries in connection with the Hackathon, future events and hackathons operated or sponsored by Hedera, or the Hedera Platform generally.

Entries from any Participant that fails to meet relevant eligibility criteria or otherwise violates these Official Rules will not be accepted. Hedera and/or the Organizer may disqualify a Participant or entire team if it reasonably believes that the Participant or team has breached these Official Rules.

ARTICLE 6 – JUDGING, NOTIFICATION & DISQUALIFICATION

The Competition Entities, or its authorized representatives, will evaluate each eligible Entry submitted, using the following equally weighted (except as provided below) objective, merit-based judging criteria (“Judging Criteria”) [scored from 1-5, 5 being highest]

    1. Technical Execution. How has the team effectively utilized the available technologies?
    2. Innovation. Is the project creative, new and disruptive?
    3. Challenge Fit. How relevant is the project to the stated challenge?

Decisions are final and binding in all respects and no correspondence or discussion will be considered. Hedera reserves the right to disqualify any Participant or Entry if it is believed that an Entry was submitted in bad faith or if the Entry is contrary to the spirit or intention of the Hackathon. 

Scores will not be made public at any time. The Entries receiving the highest aggregate scores per category will be the Grand Prize winners. In the case of a tie, the tie will be broken (among the tied Entries) by the highest score in the downloads criteria. If any Participant whose Entry is selected as a winning Entry for a given prize is disqualified for any reason, the Participant with the next highest scoring Entry will be designated as the recipient of that respective prize. Potential winner(s) will be required to provide their first and last name, mailing address, phone number and bank account information to Hedera within seventy-two (72) hours of successful notification. 

Potential winner(s) will be disqualified if:

(i) a potential winner cannot be contacted or does not respond within forty-eight (48) hours after a second notification attempt; 

(ii) a potential winner does not fulfill the Eligibility Requirements; 

(iii) a potential winner does not adhere to the Official Rules; and/or 

(iv) if the prize notification is returned as undeliverable, refused, or declined. 

Winners will be notified by telephone and/or email, in Hedera’s sole discretion, at the phone number and/or email address provided by the Participant or Team Representative. With respect to notification by telephone, such notification will be deemed given when the winner engages in a live conversation with Hedera or when a message is left on the winner’s voicemail service or answering machine by Hedera, whichever occurs first.

The Team Representative who submits the Entry shall be deemed the sole Participant and, if applicable, the prize winner for purposes of the Hackathon. Collaboration is permitted within teams, but Hedera will not manage the collaboration or prize division. The Entry is made by, and is the sole responsibility of, the Team Representative. Hedera will only notify, correspond with and, if applicable, award the prize to, the Team Representative.

Winners may be required to confirm and provide proof of their eligibility (including confirming or providing proof that they have complied with these Official Rules) as well as a liability release (to the extent permitted under applicable laws), each of which, if issued, must be completed, signed and returned within fourteen (14) calendar days from date of issuance, or the prize will be forfeited and awarded to an alternate Participant. Hedera is not responsible for any change of email address, mailing address and/or telephone number of Participants. 

ARTICLE 7 – PRIZE ALLOCATION AND TAXES

All prize details can be found on the Hackathon website [Hedera21.devpost..com].

By accepting the prize, the winner consents to the publication of their name on any of Hedera’s websites and in other publications in all forms of media.

No transfer, assignment, substitution or cash equivalent for prizes is allowed, except in Hedera’s sole discretion. Prizes are subject to availability and Hedera reserves the right to substitute a prize, in whole or in part, of equal or greater monetary value if a prize cannot be awarded as described for any reason. Any difference between stated value and actual or perceived value of any prize will not be awarded. 

Prizes will be sent by Hedera to the winners within a maximum of one-hundred and twenty (120) days. If the address of a winner is unusable (illegible, incomplete or erroneous), the latter will lose the profit of its prize. In addition, Hedera cannot be held liable because of an error of routing of the prize, the loss of the prize during shipment, or inability to contact the winner.

The value of the prize may be taxable to the winner as income. All federal, provincial, territorial, state and local taxes and any other costs and expenses associated with the acceptance and/or use of prizes not specifically provided for in these Official Rules are solely the winner’s responsibility. United States residents will have income reported to them on IRS Form 1099, as required under IRS rules and a copy of said form will be sent to the IRS, and Hedera will comply with any applicable local tax regulations for winners from other jurisdictions. Winners are advised to contact a tax advisor for any questions concerning taxes.

If a winner is a U.S. citizen, he/she must also sign and return an IRS W-9 form, or if a foreign resident, an IRS W-8BEN form, within the stated time to claim a prize.

Winners are responsible for bank and any other fees associated with funds transfer and currency exchange from transfer currency to local currency. Hedera reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value where permissible under law. Chances of winning depend on the number of eligible Entries received and the skill in meeting the Judging Criteria. 

Hedera makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding any prize or your participation in the Hackathon.

ARTICLE 8 – INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

“Intellectual Property Rights” means ideas, inventions, discoveries, improvements, modifications, enhancements, trade secrets, designs, business models, software, derivatives, know-how, processes, methodologies, technical information, data, test results, information, concepts, and works of authorship, whether patentable or not and whether reduced to practice or not, and all related intellectual property, including, but not limited to, patents and patent applications (including but not limited to all reissues, continuations, continuations-in-part, revisions, extensions, divisionals, designs and reexaminations thereof), copyrights, mask works, trademarks, trade secrets, and other forms of intellectual property protection related thereto, including all applications, certifications and registrations therefor and all common law rights therein. Participant agrees that Hedera and its affiliates exclusively own and shall retain all worldwide right, title and interest in and to any APIs or other materials, documentation, data, content or code accessed through any website owned by Hedera or its affiliates or otherwise provided by or on behalf of Hedera in connection with the Hackathon (“Hedera​ ​Materials​”), and Hedera’s trademarks, service marks, logos, trade dress, trade names or service names (“Hedera Marks​”), including without limitation all Intellectual Property Rights therein (collectively, “Hedera​ ​IP​”). No title to or ownership of any Hedera IP is granted (express or implied) or otherwise transferred to Participant or any other entity or person under these Official Rules. Any rights not expressly granted herein are withheld. Participant agrees to cooperate with Hedera to maintain Hedera’s ownership of the Hedera IP, and Participant agrees to promptly provide notice of any claims relating to the foregoing.

 As between Competition Entities and Participant, Participant has and retains all intellectual and proprietary rights in and to the Entry that Participant had at the time of submission to this Hackathon except to the extent of any Hedera technologies or Intellectual Property Rights embodied or incorporated therein. Participant represents and warrants that Participant and/or Participant’s team is the sole creator of Participant’s Entry and that Participant has obtained permission from all persons or Intellectual Property Right owners whose technology, materials, likeness, or work is contained therein for submission of Participant’s Project as described in these Official Rules.

 Nothing in these Official Rules grants Participant any rights to use any Hedera Marks.

 The Participant acknowledges and agrees that (i) the use of information in the unaided memories of the Competition Entities, in the development or deployment of products or services; and that (ii) Competition Entities may be working on similar ideas and technologies to the Participant’s Entry, independently, whether now or in the future will not create liability for Competition Entities under these Official Rules or any applicable laws.

ARTICLE 9 – PUBLICITY

By entering the Hackathon, each Participant acknowledges and expressly agrees that their Entry may be promoted by Hedera on its website and/or in various media (including via paper, data and digital media) at Hedera’s discretion.

Participant also consents to Hedera’s and its members’ and designees’ use of Participant’s name and/or Participant’s company’s/team’s name, as well as Participant’s voice, likeness, biographical information, and mention of the nature of Participant’s participation in the Hackathon, for advertising, promotional, trade, public announcements, and other oral communications at conferences, media events, or other marketing opportunities on Hedera’s website or through other electronic communications such as emails to Hedera’s customers, newsletters, or in materials that Hedera otherwise makes publicly available, and through any other channel to promote the use of the Platform, and other purposes, all without further notification, permission, or compensation. Participant acknowledges and agrees that Hedera is under no obligation to publicize Participant’s usage of the Platform. Participant grants to Hedera an irrevocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to any of Participant’s trademarks, service marks, logos, trade dress, trade names and service names, to publicize Participant’s usage of the Platform and Participant’s Project.

ARTICLE 10 – DISCLAIMER & LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

Hedera is not responsible for damage to Participants' computer or website development equipment or technology or to any other person's or entity’s computer or website development equipment or technology related to or resulting from participating in this Hackathon or downloading materials from or use of websites. Any use of Hackathon or sweepstakes clubs (or similar methods), robotic, automatic, macro, programmed or like entry methods will void all such entries by such methods, and disqualify any Participant using such methods. If, for any reason, the Hackathon is not capable of running as planned by reason of, but not limited to, infection by computer virus, worms, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which Hedera deems, in its sole opinion, could corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Hackathon, Hedera reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Hackathon and select the winner from entries received prior to the action or as otherwise may be deemed fair and equitable by Hedera, including should unforeseeable events make the Hackathon impossible or impracticable. 

Competition Entities shall not be liable to winner or any other Participant for failure to execute the Hackathon, or supply a prize or any part thereof, by reason of any action(s), regulation(s), order(s), or request(s) by any governmental or quasi-governmental entity (whether or not the action(s), regulation(s), order(s), or request(s) prove(s) to be invalid), equipment failure, terrorist acts, earthquake, war, fire, flood, explosion, unusually severe weather, hurricane, embargo, labor dispute or strike (whether legal or illegal), labor or material shortage, transportation interruption of any kind, work slowdown, civil disturbance, insurrection, riot, or any similar or dissimilar event beyond their reasonable control.

In no event will Competition Entities, their parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and related companies, their advertising or promotion agencies, and/or all their respective managers, members, officers, directors, independent contractors, representatives and agents, be responsible or liable for any damages or losses of any kind (except for liability for death, personal injury, willful misconduct, and gross negligence in jurisdiction(s) where such liability cannot be excluded), including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of participation in the Hackathon, Hackathon/Prize related activities, access to, and use of, any participating internet site(s) or the downloading from and/or printing material or software downloaded from the site(s). 

THE HEDERA MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED TO PARTICIPANTS ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. THIS MEANS THAT THE HEDERA IS UNABLE TO PROMISE THAT PARTICIPANT’S USE OF THE HEDERA MATERIALS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, WITHOUT DELAYS, ERROR-FREE OR MEET PARTICIPANT’S EXPECTATIONS AND HEDERA DOES NOT GIVE ANY COMMITMENT RELATING TO THE PERFORMANCE OR AVAILABILITY OF THE HACKATHON MATERIALS AND, TO THE EXTENT HEDERA IS ABLE TO DO SO, HEDERA EXCLUDES ANY COMMITMENTS THAT MAY BE IMPLIED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, title, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN THE EVENT OF A CLAIM ARISING OUT OF A PARTICIPANT’s PARTICIPATION IN THE HACKATHON OR THESE TERMS, HEDERA’S responsibility TO EACH PARTICIPANT WILL NEVER BE MORE THAN THE GREATER OF (1) THE REGISTRATION COST PAID BY THE PARTICIPANT OR (2) $100 USD. IN EVERY CASE HEDERA WILL NEVER BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE THAT IS NOT REASONABLY FORESEEABLE.

Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the sites are provided "AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Some jurisdictions may not allow the limitations or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages or exclusion of implied warranties. 

ARTICLE 11 – CONFIDENTIALITY

The Participant acknowledges the confidentiality of all information and documents which have been shared with them throughout the Hackathon.

During the whole duration of the Hackathon, the Participant will not directly or indirectly use or share any information with any third party, unless they have obtained a written authorization to do so, delivered by Hedera beforehand. This applies to information shared with them by the Competition Entities, or shared with them indirectly upon the execution of this contract.

The Participant commits to delivering any document containing confidential information or shared with the Participant upon the execution of this contract, on Hedera’s simple request. This confidentiality agreement is valid for twenty-four (24) months from the start date of the Hackathon.

ARTICLE 12 – PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

The collection and processing of personal data relating to the Participant by the Competitions Entities is primarily intended to ensure that the Hackathon will be properly completed and in particular to allow the Organizer or Hedera to contact the winner and to award them the prizes in an efficient way and, if the case arises, to publish the list of the winners.

Personal Data you submit when you participate in the Hackathon will be treated in accordance with the Hedera’s Privacy Policy  https://www.hedera.com/privacy, and applicable data protection laws.

Participants have the right to access, update and/or obtain deletion of their data by requesting directly to Hedera Hashgraph at the following address: 3400 North Central Expressway, Suite 470, Richardson, Texas 75080 or by emailing contact@hedera.com.

ARTICLE 13 – GOVERNING LAW

Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Hackathon, Participant agrees that at the sole and exclusive discretion of Hedera that (1) any and all disputes and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Hackathon, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by final and binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association and held in Collins County, Texas, USA; (2) the Federal Arbitration Act shall govern the interpretation, enforcement and all proceedings at such arbitration; and (3) judgment upon such arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. Any dispute between the parties that is not subject to arbitration will be resolved in the state or federal courts of Texas and the United States of America, respectively, sitting in Collins County, Texas, except to the extent prohibited by applicable local law. The Official Rules shall be governed by, subject to, and construed in accordance with the laws of Texas, USA, excluding all conflict of law rules. This does not affect any rights Participant may have under the law of the country in which Participant is a resident or participates in the Hackathon from, including Participant’s right to have a dispute in relation to the Hackathon or these Official Rules heard in the courts of that country solely to the extent required under such applicable local laws. If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.

ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE OFFICIAL RULES OR THE HACKATHON MUST BE FILED WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER SUCH CLAIM AROSE; OTHERWISE, THE CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED, WHICH MEANS THAT PARTICIPANT WILL NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASSERT THE CLAIM, EXCEPT WHERE APPLICABLE LAW DOES NOT ALLOW PARTICIPANT TO LIMIT THE TIME FOR FILING CLAIMS IN THIS WAY.

ARTICLE 14 – GENERAL

Participation in this Hackathon is subject to these Official Rules. Participants agree to abide by and be bound to these Official Rules and the decisions of Hedera, which are final and binding in all respects. 

These Official Rules and the referenced Privacy Statement may be amended or varied at any time by Hedera without notice at Hedera’s sole discretion, and the revised Official Rules will be posted at [Hedera21.devpost.com].and emailed to the email address provided by Participant. Participant is entitled to withdraw from the Hackathon in case it does not agree to such revised Official Rules, and the license granted by Participant to Competition Entities in Section 4 will be terminated accordingly.

By continuing participation, the Participant agrees to the revised Official Rules without any objection. Failure to timely return or properly complete release documents (as described herein), or if a prize notification or any prize is returned as undeliverable, or if winner is not eligible or does not comply with these Official Rules, will result in prize forfeiture and an alternate winner may be selected, in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 above. Hedera reserves the right to disqualify and take legal action to the fullest extent permitted by law against any Participant or winner who tampers with the Hackathon website or platform, the entry process, violates these Official Rules, or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner.