Driverless Future Challenge Terms & Conditions

General Note: Blank Space is the sole organizer of this challenge. The Office of the Mayor of New York City, and all agencies of the City of New York, are helping to support the Challenge through non-financial measures, but are not co-organizers, they are acting as sponsors and/or supplying jurors or judges. The decisions and opinions of Blank Space and its owners represent their professional viewpoints, not the opinion of any partners, sponsors or jurors/judges.

To take part in this challenge, all applicants must accept the rules in their entirety. Any infringement of the rules will be subject to evaluation by the organizer and any decisions regarding rejection of an entry, eligibility of an entrant, selection of finalists or winners or the awarding of prizing or any other decision regarding the challenge are solely the organizer’s.

1. The enrollment fee is not tax deductible.

2. The enrollment fee is not returnable and is not transferable.

3. The official language of the challenge is English.

4. Ineligible entrants include any staff of Blank Space, any jury members, sponsors or partner companies and agencies, and their direct employees or relatives. This includes the NYC Mayor’s Office, NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Economic Development Corporation, NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, Fast Company, AIANY, New Lab, Archdaily, Archinect and Bustler. This also includes direct employees and relatives of the jury members, including: Jeff Merritt (New York City Mayor’s Office of Tech and Innovation), Kate Daly (NYCEDC), Sander Dolder (NYCEDC), Danny Stillion (IDEO), Aravind Kailas (Volvo), Michael Replogle (NYC DOT), William Carry (NYC DOT), Patrick Smith (NYC DOT), Rodney Stiles (NYC TLC), Dawn Miller (NYC TLC), Jeff Garber (NYC TLC), Jeffrey Inaba (INABA WILLIAMS), Odile Decq (Studio Odile Decq), Jürgen Mayer H. (J. MAYER H.), Matthew Daus (Windels, Marx, Lane & Mittendorf), Matt Sweeney (Uber Advanced Technologies Group), Courtney Ehrlichman (Traffic 21 Institute), Matthew Hoffman (Blank Space), Francesca Giuliani (Blank Space), Eric Rothman (HR&A), Marco Plewe (Mercedes-Benz Research & Development), Michelle Cheung (Mercedes-Benz Research & Development), Susan Chin (Design Trust For Public Space)

5. Applicants who try to contact members of the jury will be disqualified. The jury or judges consist of the following persons with the following affiliations: Jeff Merritt (New York City Mayor’s Office of Tech and Innovation), Kate Daly (NYCEDC), Sander Dolder (NYCEDC), Danny Stillion (IDEO), Aravind Kailas (Volvo), Michael Replogle (NYC DOT), William Carry (NYC DOT), Patrick Smith (NYC DOT), Rodney Stiles (NYC TLC), Dawn Miller (NYC TLC), Jeff Garber (NYC TLC), Jeffrey Inaba (INABA WILLIAMS), Odile Decq (Studio Odile Decq), Jürgen Mayer H. (J. MAYER H.), Matthew Daus (Windels, Marx, Lane & Mittendorf), Matt Sweeney (Uber Advanced Technologies Group), Courtney Ehrlichman (Traffic 21 Institute), Matthew Hoffman (Blank Space), Francesca Giuliani (Blank Space), Eric Rothman (HR&A), Marco Plewe (Mercedes-Benz Research & Development), Michelle Cheung (Mercedes-Benz Research & Development), Susan Chin (Design Trust For Public Space)

6. Blank Space and its partners, sponsors and affiliates have the right to publish without prior consent all materials or work submitted to this challenge.

7. Blank Space reserves the right to modify the challenge schedule if deemed necessary. Entrants will be notified via the contact information provided with their entries.

8. By entering into the challenge, participants grant a license for unlimited use of materials submitted to this challenge for publication, exhibition and electronic posting to Blank Space, the sponsors and their partners and affiliates. Blank Space, the sponsors and their partners will credit the participants/entrants responsible for the materials submitted or their work. Inadvertant failure to credit shall not violate these rules or the license granted.

9. Any materials or work submitted for the challenge must be the entrant’s or entrant team’s original work. It is the entrant’s or entrant team’s sole responsibility to ensure that the work submitted does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, copyright, trademark, patent and design rights. They shall not contain and malicious code, such as viruses, malware, timebombs, cancelbots, worms, Trojan horses or any other potentially harmful programs or other material. No entry may contain material that would violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, rule or regulation.

10. Submissions/materials, work or entries shall not be published or made public by entrants until after the final event date and formal announcement of the winner(s).

11. The organizer may declare the challenge deserted and reject any and all entries received in response to this challenge. If the organizer declares the challenge deserted, registration fees will be refunded to entrants.

 
12. The decisions of the organizer, as informed by the jury, shall be final and binding on all parties, and no disputes shall be entertained.

13. By entering the challenge all entrants agree in full to these Rules and Regulations and have read and understand them or have had their parent/legal guardian read them and the parent/legal guardian understands them and agrees to them on behalf of any entrant who is a minor.

14. Award winners are responsible for all taxes and fees associated with prize receipt and/or use. Prizing consists of the following: Up to $1000 travel stipends for up to 4 finalists, and $2,500 prize for first place.

15. Entrants under the age of 18 must include a signed letter from their parent or legal guardian that expressly permits their participation in the competition/challenge and have their parent/legal guardian read, understand and agree to the rules prior to entry.

16. Rules and regulations are subject to change without notice by the organizer; however all entrants will be provided with notice of any changes to the rules and regulations as soon as practicable via the contact information provided by the entrant.

ELIGIBILITY:
This is an international challenge open to all architects, designers, students and members of the public either individually or as a team. Entries may be individually or in groups, with no restriction on the number of members of the team or group. Individuals or teams may submit multiple projects, but it is mandatory that each entry be registered separately, with separate ID codes for each individual or each individual team member depending on the form of the entry.

COPYRIGHT:
By submitting an entry, each entrant warrants that he or she is the sole designer, creator, and owner of the work or materials, including all visual and textual components, or has permission to use any copyrighted or proprietary components, and further warrants that the work or materials do not contain information considered by the entrant’s employer, university, college or any other third party to be confidential or the property of the employer, university, college or any other third party. By submitting an entry by a group or team, the entrants each warrant that they jointly designed, created, and own the work or materials or have permission to use copyrighted or proprietary components, and further warrant that the work or materials do not contain information considered by entrants’ employer(s), place(s) of business, university, college or any other third party to be confidential or the property of the employer, university, college or any other third party.

DISCLAIMER:
Blank Space, or the organizer, reserves the right to refuse any entry for any lawful reason. The organizer is not liable for lost or misdirected entries. The decisions and opinions of the jurors represent their professional viewpoints and will be the basis for the organizer’s selection of finalists and winner(s). Decisions as to eligibility, application of these rules, the naming of finalists or winner(s) and the awarding of prizes will be made by the organizer (Blank Space). All prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the organizer and all decisions of the organizer (as informed by the jurors’ recommendations) are final.

All materials for this challenge must be submitted in digital format. Printed hard copies of entries will not be accepted. Entrants retain ownership of their intellectual property and materials and submissions. It should be emphasized that this challenge is purely conceptual, and the selection of finalists or prize winners in no way indicates intent to implement the proposed schemes. Upon registering for this challenge, all entrants agree to waive any and all claims against Blank Space, sponsors, partners, jurors and their affiliates. By registering, the entrants grant a license to the organizer, sponsors, partners and their affiliates to make unlimited use for publication, exhibition and electronic posting of all entries to the challenge website. Blank Space, sponsors, partners and their affiliates shall have the right to release any of the submitted materials to the media or to feature them in publications, social media, or any other medium when publicizing the challenge and will credit the entrant or entrants responsible for their work or submitted materials.

Entrants agree that the organizer, sponsors, partners and their affiliates may use your name, likeness or photograph or audio-visual footage of you, general information about your place of residence or biography provided by you in connection with the challenge and related publicity, in any media now known or later developed in any location without payment or further approval from you. This permission cannot be cancelled and may extend to the websites, social media feeds, publications or any other material that the organizer, sponsors, partners or their affiliates issue in connection with the challenge or their respective roles in the challenge.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PUBLICATION:
Entrants may not release any images of their submissions, work or materials until after the official awards announcement from Blank Space in June 2017. This includes all professional publications, media outlets, blogs and social media. Winners may be notified in advance of the official announcement date. Winners may not make an announcement about winning in advance of the official announcement date without permission from Blank Space.

All potential finalists or winners are subject to verification by the organizer whose decisions are final and binding as to all matters related to the challenge. Potential finalists or winners will be asked to complete further documentation to claim any prize award.

Entry does not grant the entrant any permission to use the names, logos, trademarks or materials of the organizer, sponsors, partners or their affiliates.

GENERAL RELEASE:
By entering, each entrant agrees to: (a) comply with and be bound by these rules and the decisions of the organizer which are binding and final in all matters relating to this challenge; (b) release and hold harmless the organizer, sponsors, partners, jurors/judges, and their respective parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, the prize suppliers and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the challenge and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, including but not limited to invasion of privacy (under appropriation, intrusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light in the public eye or other legal theory), defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights, property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating to an entry, creation of an entry or submission of an entry, participation in the challenge, acceptance or use or misuse of prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of entry; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to a entrant’s participation in the challenge and/or entrant’s acceptance, use or misuse of prize.

The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by entrants, printing errors or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the challenge, (2) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the challenge; (4) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the challenge or receipt or use of any prize. If for any reason an entrant’s entry or submission is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, entrant’s sole remedy is to provide another entry prior to selection of finalists. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded.

DISPUTES:
Entrants agree that: (1) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this challenge, or any prizes awarded, other than those concerning the administration of the challenge or the determination of winners, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action; (2) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this challenge, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved exclusively by the United States District Court or New York State Court in New York County; (3) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this challenge, but in no event attorneys’ fees; and (4) under no circumstances will entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these rules, or the rights and obligations of the entrants and organizer in connection with the challenge, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to any choice of law of conflict of law rules (whether of the State of New York or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of New York.

IN CLOSING:
This challenge is subject to the terms contained here. This is the definitive declaration of the terms and conditions of this challenge. The conditions are binding for the organizer, sponsor, partners, jurors/judges and their affiliates except as otherwise provided here. By submitting an entry, the entrant declares that he / she is aware of and accepts the terms and conditions of the challenge or, if the entrant is a minor under the age of 18, his or her parent or legal guardian is aware of and accepts the terms and conditions of the challenge.

Print a copy of Driverless Future Challenge Rules and Regulations