Regulation for the « CUDA Challenge » game competition for programmers

Regulation for the « CUDA Challenge » game competition for programmers
FREE AND WITHOUT ANY FORM OF COMPULSORY PURCHASE

Article 1
The NVIDIA Ltd company
With main offices located in situé 14 place Marie Jeanne Bassot, 92593 Levallois Perret acting in the name and on behalf of its legal representatives domiciled for the post in the abovementioned offices, Organise from the 24th of April 2008 to the 1st of September 2008 a game competition, henceforth termed "CUDA Challenge".

The "CUDA Challenge" is a computer programming competition: the participants are invited to present autonomous application or public plug-ins of all types, working under Windows, Linux or MacOS. The most innovative applications that best exploit the processing power of the GPU will be rewarded. The application may, among other things, concentrate on the following aspects:

multimedia (photo retouching/video/audio, etc),
security (firewall, anti-virus, etc,),
management software (file compression and management, etc.).

Article 2
The competition is free, without and compulsory purchase.
It is open to all adults resident or with an address in Austria, Belgium, Cech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Metropolitan France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom, with the exclusion of the members of the SCP HAUGUEL and SCHAMBOURG, 14 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, the branches or companies affiliated with NVIDIA and permanent or occasional collaborators (including trainees) of the NVIDIA company as well as their family members.
The participants must have Internet access and a valid e-mail address.

The participants can present their work under their own name, or that of a team (of no more than 5 people). All participants (single or members of the same team) must abide by the eligibility criteria described in these regulations both at the time of registration as at the time of accepting any prizes.
If a member of a team does not comply with the eligibility criteria, then the whole team will be disqualified. Only those people who have been identified at the time of joining the team may receive a prize.

Article 3
In order to take part one must:

Fill in the enrolment form available on the NVIDIA internet site (http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/cuda_contest_april2008_uk.html)
Alternatively, complete the enrolment form and send it by post to the following postal address:
Create a program using the CUDA programming language according to the criteria reported above (Article 1) and send it to the following site: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/cuda_upload_april2008_uk.html before the 18th of July 2008 at 8.00 pm (Central European Time). In the event that it is impossible to upload the project onto the site, the participants may send their project on a CD or DVD by courier to the following address:
The projects must be posted before the 18th of July 2008 at 8.00 pm (Central European Time), attested by the postal stamp.

Article 4
All eligible projects will be assessed by a jury made up of members of the NVIDIA company and media partners according to the following criteria:

The originality, that includes the nature of the problem posed and its innovative aspects
The difficulty of the project, which includes the nature of the problem posed and the complexity of the solution
The innovative contribution provided by the project to the CUDA programming community
The optimisation of the CUDA code in order to get the best out of the processing power of the NVIDIA GPU’s

Based on a joint consideration of the criteria detailed above, the jury will reward the six (6) best projects. The jury’s decision will be based on the best compromise between these 4 criteria.
The competition committee, at its own unquestionable discretion, reserves the right not to award prizes if does not receive a sufficient number of eligible or qualified enrolments. The winners will be informed by e-mail on the 1st of September 2008 at the address they will have indicated at the time of their enrolment. The e-mail will also explain to the winners how they may benefit from their prize. The names of the winners will be viewable for sixty (60) days on the following internet site: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/cuda_main_uk2.html

The jury reserves the right to extend the deliberation period and to postpone the final date for its decision. The jury’s decision will be final and irrevocable.

Article 5
The competition prizes are as follows:

1st prize: one (1) HP xw8600 work station (Dual 3.33 GHz Xeon 5260, Quadro FX 3700, Tesla C870, moniteur LCD 30" HP), worth 6500€ BT
2nd prize: one (1) NVIDIA Tesla D870 card, worth 2317€ BT
from the 3rd to the 6th: one (1) NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700 graphic card worth 877.96€ BT

The prize offered to the winner is nominal and cannot be awarded to another person. In the case of team projects, only one prize will be awarded to be shared by all team members. The prize offered cannot be exchanged or reimbursed.
In case of force majeure or other unforeseen circumstances, NVIDIA Ltd reserves the right to replace the winning prizes by prizes of an equal or greater value. NVIDIA Ltd declines all responsibility for the quality and the state of the prize at the time of delivery.

The refusal of a prize of a nomination by a participant may lead to the disqualification of the winner (or of the team if the participant is part of a team) and the selection of another winner. All winners chosen by the jury and that cannot be reached within 15 days following the notification of the win by the jury will be disqualified and may not pretend to be awarded the prize. NVIDIA Ltd will ask prize winners to fill in, sign and return a document titled Eligibility and Responsibility Affidavit. Failure to deliver this document within 30 days of the notification of the jury’s decision will entail the disqualification of the winner and the selection of another one. If a team is awarded a prize, all members must sign the Affidavit.

The winners will receive their prize at the address they have indicated at the time of enrolment (unless otherwise provided). Once the winners acceptation is received, the latter will receive their prize within 30 days. The prizes are not resalable and many not be claimed or given to others.

Article 6
The simple fact of taking part implies the pure and simple acceptation of these regulations. By the simple fact of taking part in the competition or accepting a prize, the participants authorise the NVIDIA company and its branches for the purposes of a possible use for promotional, advertising or other end, to publish their surnames, names and photographs on all advertising or promotional documents connected to the operation whatever the support, the format or the mode of dissemination, without this reproduction requiring any form of authorisation, indemnity or remuneration. The intellectual and industrial property rights at the time of inscription, if it taken place, will remain the property of the enrolee, and these conditions may not replace any attribution or other right especially other separate agreements between the candidate and third parties, while granting NVIDIA Ltd a licence for the evaluation and testing of the application relating to the competition as well as a licence to demonstrate the application for the purpose of promoting the CUDA platform.

Article 7
The information that the participant communicate will be included in the NVIDIA consumer files, for purposes of canvassing and establishing customer loyalty, for forwarding of information on NVIDIA products and those of other companies, as well as in order to verify the details and eligibility of the participants. The participants accept that their personal details be used outside their country of origin, including the United States.

Article 8
In compliance with the law n°78-17 of the 6th of January 1978, the competition participants have a right to access and rectify the information concerning them, that they have communicated to NVIDIA within the context of the competition. To exercise this right and/or to oppose the use or sale of the said data to third parties, the participants must make a request in writing to NVIDIA (details of local offices available at http://www.nvidia.co.uk/page/contact_information.html)

Article 9
Those enrolled certify that their project is unabridged.
Each participant accepts not to present project that:

would infringe the property rights of a third party, an intellectual right, an industrial right, personal rights or any other right. Particularly, but not exclusively: copyright, registered trademark, patent, professional secret or confidential obligation.
would violate any laws in force anywhere in the world.

Article 10
The regulations of this competition are on deposit at:

SCP HAUGUEL, et SCHAMBOURG
Bailiffs
14 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré
75008 Paris - FRANCE

An example of the regulations may be requested, exclusively by courier, from the NVIDIA Ltd. company. No other questions will be answered, orally or in writing, concerning the competition.

Article 11
NVIDIA Ltd reserves the right to cut short, postpone, change or cancel the competition if circumstances may require it, the company may not be held responsible in any way for this occurrence. NVIDIA Ltd denies all responsibility in the case of bad handling on behalf of the participant or for malfunctions with the Internet web site that might obstruct the correct performance of the competition. Additionally, it’s responsibility may not in any case be called into question in cases of problems with delivery, theft or default on behalf of all courier, postal or electronic delivery services and all technical problems relating to Internet. NVIDIA Ltd may also not be held responsible if the CUDA programme does not function as expected (either owing to bad handling by the participant or an infection in the computer, a virus, bugs…)

Article 12
All mistaken information communicated at the time of enrolment or delivery of the project shall entail the complete elimination from the competition. NVIDIA Ltd reserves the right to disqualify all participants who do not fill in all conditions outlined in these regulations.

Article 13
No financial return, nor expenditure under any form, may be claimed by the participant.

The expenses incurred in participating in the competition shall be reimbursed exclusively following presentation of a written request sent by post to the following address:

No reimbursement request forwarded by electronic mail will be taken into consideration. In order to benefit from the reimbursement of the participation costs incurred, the participant must include with the request:

his/her name, first name, postal address and e-mail address
a photocopy of his/her identity card
the date and hour of their participation
user identification and password
where possible, a photocopy of the detailed invoice of the telephone operator and/or service provider. This photocopy will be taken as proof of domicile.

Only one reimbursement request will be accepted (for individual participants or teams) Given the current situation concerning technical and service provisions, certain providers of internet access offer free or flat rate connections to internet surfers, it is expressly agreed that all access to NVIDIA sites carried out for free or at a flat rate (as for example cable, ADSL, WIFI or other special forms of connection) shall not give rise to any form of reimbursement, in so far as the subscription to the provider’s services are in this instance contracted by the internet user for his or her general Internet use and consequently the Participants connection to the NVIDIA site to take part in the competition does not entail an additional outlay for said Participant.

Article 14
These regulations are subject to French law. All problems relative to the application or interpretation of these regulations shall be settled by par SCP HAUGUEL et SCHAMBOURG, Bailiffs in the first instance. All litigation that might ensue in relation to the competition shall be presented before the competent court in Paris. No opposition shall be taken into consideration after a period of 2 months following the closing of the competition.