Contest Rules: Mothers of Invention Challenge
Feb. 11, 2006— -- "Good Morning America Weekend" kicked off its second annual Mothers of Invention Challenge today, in partnership with Mom Inventors, Inc. If you're a mom who has a great idea for a new invention, you can enter to win. One grand prize winner will receive $5,000 plus a five percent royalty from the sale of the invention. See full official rules below for complete details.
All entries must be postmarked by Wednesday, March 15, 2006, and must be received by Saturday, March 25, 2006. Please see contest rules below for complete information and entry requirements.
Mothers of Invention Contest Rules
Mom Inventors, Inc.
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Click Here for Contest Summary.
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. 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 or about Saturday, February 11, 2006 and all entries should be postmarked by Wednesday, March 15 and MUST be RECEIVED at the Post Office Box by Saturday, March 25, 2006. All entrants must send a standard VHS, DVD, DV or Beta tape, 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 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 last year's challenge are strongly encouraged to update their submissions.
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ("ABC") and Mom Inventors Inc. (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 Wednesday, March 15 and must be received by Saturday, March 25, 2006. 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 disposed of at the conclusion of the Promotion. Sponsors cannot provide technical support and accept no responsibility for insuring the receipt 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 15th, 2006. 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. 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, 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., and/or Mom Inventors, Inc., 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 www.GMAWEEKEND.ABCNEWS.com. 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. 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 13, 2006, 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 13, 2006 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., other sponsors, if any, representatives of the Law Offices of West & Associates and representatives of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. 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, March 20th, 2006 through or about Friday, April 7, 2006. During that time, selected inventors may be required to submit additional requested information to assist in sponsor/judges due diligence research, regarding patents, 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 2006. After the segment highlighting the Finalists is broadcast on Good Morning America Weekend, on or about Saturday, May 13, 2006, 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 May 13 before 12:00 am on Sunday, May 14, 2006. 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 Sunday, May 14, 2006, 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 $5000 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. During such time periods Mom Inventors, Inc. shall make best efforts to make commercial sales of the product. At any time, on 30 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.
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.
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., 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.
Additional Conditions of Participation: If for any reason the Promotion is not capable of running as planned, including but not limited to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failure or other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Promotion, Sponsors reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify and/or suspend the Promotion and to determine the winners by having the judges evaluate all eligible entries received prior to the action taken, or as otherwise deemed fair and equitable by Sponsors; and to disqualify any individuals who tamper with the entry process, violate these official rules or act in a disruptive or abusive manner. No responsibility is assumed for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alteration of entries; errors, defects or omissions in the advertisement or offering of this Promotion; or any problems or technical malfunctions of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail or electronic entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer related to, or resulting from, participation in or downloading any materials from this Promotion.
Participants further agree not to knowingly damage or cause interruption of the Promotion and/or prevent others from using the Promotion. Submission of an entry is acknowledgement of and agreement to be bound by all terms and conditions of this Promotion. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO DAMAGE ANY ONLINE SERVICE OR WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION VIOLATES CRIMINAL OR CIVIL LAWS. IF SUCH AN ATTEMPT IS MADE, SPONSOR MAY DISQUALIFY ANY PARTICIPANT MAKING SUCH ATTEMPT AND SEEK DAMAGES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. reserve the right to terminate, modify or suspend this Promotion due to any of the following reasons: act of God; unavoidable accident; epidemic; fire; blackout; act of public enemy; war, riot or civil commotion; enactment, rule, order or act of government or governmental instrumentality or tribunal; strike, lockout or other labor dispute; inclement weather; the recapture of any time period scheduled for the live telecast of a program for an event of national importance or emergency; failure of technical facilities; failure of essential production, or technical personnel to appear or be available for production or broadcast; or other cause of a similar or different nature. By entering, Entrant agrees that should this Promotion be terminated for any reason Entrant irrevocably waives any right to seek and/or obtain rescission and/or equitable and/or injunctive relief.
Sponsors: American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., 77 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023; Mom Inventors, Inc., 125 Grover Lane, Walnut Creek, California 94596.
Names of Finalists and Winner: For the name of the Finalists and Winner, available mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Good Morning America Weekend's Mothers of Invention Challenge, P.O. Box 830 Alamo, CA 94507. Requests received after June 30, 2006 will not be honored. No Purchase Necessary To Enter or Win. A Purchase Will Not Increase Your Chances of Winning.