BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY POETRY OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. MAKING A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.
Contest
1. PROMOTION DESCRIPTION: This Black’s Law Dictionary Contest begins at 10:00 am Central time on July 29 and ends at 3:00 pm August 23 (the “Promotion Period”).
2. ELIGIBILITY. The Contest is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are at least 18 years of age or older. Employees, contractors, directors, officers, and agents of the Sponsor, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, distributors, sales representatives, and advertising, promotion agencies and all other service agencies involved with the Contest, and members of the immediate family (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) and household of each such employee (whether or not related) are not eligible to enter or win. This Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein. By participating in the Contest, each Entrant unconditionally accepts and agrees to comply with and abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor, which shall be final and binding in all respects.
3. SPONSOR: The sponsor of this Contest is Thomson Reuters (Legal) Inc. (Sponsor”). Sponsor is responsible for processing of Entries and the overall administration of the Contest.
4. PRIZE : One winner will receive a current edition of Black’s Law Dictionary (Retail value $150). The prize is non-transferable/non-saleable. No substitution or cash redemption of the prize is permitted. Reporting and payment of all federal, state, local or other applicable taxes and other expenses in connection with the prize are the sole responsibility of the winner.
5. HOW TO ENTER: Enter the Contest during the Promotion Period by submitting an original piece of poetry on Twitter at #BLDpoetrycontest and @LegalCurrent. The poem must be original and must use words from the list of new words added to the 11th Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary highlighted on The Legal Current Blog. Any poem that contains obscene or libelous material will be disqualified. There is no limit to the number of poems you may submit during the Promotion Period.
Each work submitted as part of an entry (“Work”) becomes the property of the Sponsor. As a condition of entry, each entrant irrevocably grants to the Sponsor a non-exclusive perpetual worldwide licence to use and exploit all intellectual property rights (including, without limitation, copyright) in and to the Work and consents to the Sponsor doing (or omitting to do) any acts in respect of the Work which may otherwise constitute an infringement of an entrant’s moral rights. Each entrant warrants to the Sponsor that the Work submitted is an original work of the entrant which does not infringe any rights of any third party. A breach of the warranty set out in this condition will result in the entrant’s entry being invalid. In addition, each entrant indemnifies the Sponsor against all loss, damages and costs incurred by the Sponsor arising from that entrant’s breach of the warranty set out in this condition.
Automated or robotic Entries submitted by individuals or organizations will be disqualified. Internet entry must be made by the Entrant. Should multiple users of the same e-mail account enter the Contest and a dispute thereafter arise regarding the identity of the entrant, the authorized account holder of said e-mail account at the time of entry will be considered the entrant. “Authorized Account Holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned the social media account used to enter by the social media platform provider, or other organization which is responsible for the social media account. Potential winner may be required to show proof of being the Authorized Account Holder. Final eligibility for the award of any prize is subject to eligibility verification as set forth below. All Entries must be submitted by the end of the Promotion Period in order to participate. Sponsor’s database clock will be the official timekeeper for this Contest.
6. WINNER SELECTION: Following the close of the promotion period, three (3) Finalists will be selected by a panel of three (3) judges who are employees of Sponsor. This is a game of skill and chance plays no part in the determination of the Finalists or winner. Each entry will be individually judged according to its merits on the basis of originality and creativity as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion.
The three (3) poems selected by judges will be posted on Twitter on September 4 and the public will be able to vote for their favorite poem during Septmber 4-13 “(the Voting Period”) by voting in a Twitter poll. Limit to one (1) vote per person. The entry with the most votes at the end of the Voting Period will be deemed the winner.
This Contest is not sponsored or endorsed by Twitter. Twitter rules prohibit the creation of multiple accounts to enter or vote. Anyone found using multiple accounts to enter or vote will be ineligible.
7. WINNER NOTIFICATION: The winner will be notified by [a direct message to the winner’s social media account with which winner entered]. Winner must accept a prize by email as directed by Sponsor within seven (7) days of notification. Sponsor is not responsible for any delay or failure to receive notification for any reason, including inactive email account(s), technical difficulties associated therewith, or Winner’s failure to adequately monitor any email account.
Winner may be disqualified and the prize may be forfeited in Sponsor’s sole discretion if a potential winner is found not to be eligible or not in compliance with these Official Rules, if any winner notification is not responded to or returned as undeliverable, if any required documents are not returned within the required number of days, if a winner cannot be verified, or if a winner is otherwise unable or unwilling to accept and claim the prize as stated. In the event that a potential winner is disqualified for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to award the prize to the poem receiving the second most votes. Winner may be required to complete, sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability Release, and, where lawful, a Publicity Release, within ten (10) days of attempted notification or prize may be forfeited. Prizes won by an eligible entrant who is a minor in his/her state of residence will be awarded to minor’s parent or legal guardian, who must sign and return all required documents. Sponsor is not responsible for any change of email address, mailing address and/or telephone number of entrants.
Except where prohibited by law, each winner grants (and agrees to confirm this grant in writing, if requested) permission for Sponsor and those acting under its authority to use his/her name, photograph, and/or likeness, for advertising and/or publicity purposes in relation to this contest any and all media now known or hereinafter invented without territorial or time limitations and without compensation.
8. RELEASE; LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: As a condition of entering, entrants (or their parent or legal guardian if an eligible minor) agree (and agree to confirm in writing): (a) to release Sponsor, its affiliates, subsidiaries, retailers, and agents, and each of their officers, directors, employees and agents, from any and all liability, loss or damage incurred with respect to the awarding, receipt, possession, and/or use or misuse of any prize; (b) under no circumstances will any entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrant hereby knowingly and expressly waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, consequential, or any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses and/or any rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased; (c) all causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, or any prize awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action; and (d) any and all claims, judgments, and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred (if any), excluding attorneys’ fees and court costs. Sponsor assumes no responsibility or liability for (i) any lost, late, illegible, damaged, misdirected, undelivered, incorrect or inaccurate entry information, or for any faulty or failed electronic data transmissions whether caused by Internet users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of the entries; (ii) any unauthorized access to, or theft, destruction or alteration of entries at any point in the operation of this Contest; (iii) any technical malfunction, failure, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or communications line failure, regardless of cause, with regard to any equipment, systems, networks, lines, satellites, servers, camera, computers or providers utilized in any aspect of the operation of the Contest; (iv) inaccessibility or unavailability of any network or wireless service, the Internet or website or any combination thereof; (v) suspended or discontinued Internet, wireless or landline phone service; (vi) suspended or discontinued Twitter service; or (vii) any injury or damage to participant’s or to any other person’s computer or mobile device which may be related to or resulting from any attempt to participate in the Contest or download of any materials in the Contest.
If, for any reason, the Contest is not capable of running as planned for reasons which may include without limitation, infection by computer virus, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which in Sponsor’s sole discretion may corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Contest, the Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest in whole or in part. In the event of cancellation, Sponsor may, in its discretion, award the prize from among all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to cancellation based on the judging criteria stated herein. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process, the website, or the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of the Official Rules of this or any other promotion or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.
9. BINDING ARBITRATION: Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Contest shall be settled by binding arbitration in a location determined by the arbitrator as set forth herein (provided that such location is reasonably convenient for claimant), or at such other location as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties, in accordance with the procedural rules for commercial disputes set forth in the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures of JAMS (“JAMS Rules and Procedures”) then prevailing, and judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator shall be selected pursuant to the JAMS Rules and Procedures. The arbitrator shall apply Michigan law consistent with the Federal Arbitration Act and applicable statutes of limitations, and shall honor claims of privilege recognized at law. In the event that the claimant is able to demonstrate that the costs of arbitration will be prohibitive as compared to the costs of litigation, Sponsor will pay as much of the claimant’s filing and hearing fees in connection with the arbitration as the arbitrator deems necessary to prevent the arbitration from being cost-prohibitive. If any part of this arbitration provision is deemed to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal (other than that claims will not be arbitrated on a class or representative basis), or otherwise conflicts with the rules and procedures established by JAMS, then the balance of this arbitration provision shall remain in effect and shall be construed in accordance with its terms as if the invalid, unenforceable, illegal or conflicting provision were not contained herein. If, however, the portion that is deemed invalid, unenforceable or illegal is that claims will not be arbitrated on a class or representative basis, then the entirety of this arbitration provision shall be null and void, and neither claimant nor Sponsor shall be entitled to arbitrate their dispute. Upon filing a demand for arbitration, all parties to such arbitration shall have the right of discovery, which discovery shall be completed within sixty days after the demand for arbitration is made, unless further extended by mutual agreement of the parties. THE ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES PURSUANT TO THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL BE IN THE ENTRANT’S INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. THE ARBITRATOR MAY NOT CONSOLIDATE OR JOIN THE CLAIMS OF OTHER PERSONS OR PARTIES WHO MAY BE SIMILARLY SITUATED. DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO HAVE ANY CLAIM OR CONTROVERSY ARBITRATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES.
BY PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, EACH ENTRANT AGREES THAT TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW: (1) ANY AND ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THE CONTEST, OR ANY PRIZE AWARDED, WILL BE RESOLVED INDIVIDUALLY THROUGH BINDING ARBITRATION AS SET FORTH ABOVE, WITHOUT RESORT TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION AND (2) ENTRANT’S REMEDIES ARE LIMITED TO A CLAIM FOR MONEY DAMAGES (IF ANY) AND ENTRANT IRREVOCABLY WAIVES ANY RIGHT TO SEEK INJUNCTIVE OR EQUITABLE RELIEF. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY SET FORTH ABOVE AND IN SECTION 8(B)-(D), SO SUCH LANGUAGE MAY NOT APPLY TO EVERY ENTRANT.
10. GOVERNING LAW & JURISDICTION: This Contest and its Official Rules are governed by US law and are subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Contest Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Michigan, U.S.A., without giving effect to the conflict of laws rules thereof, and any matters or proceedings which are not subject to arbitration as set forth in Section 9 of these Official Rules and/or for entering any judgment on an arbitration award, shall take place in the State of Michigan, for Washtenaw County.
11. ENTRANT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION: Please see the privacy policy located at https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/privacy-statement.html for details of Sponsor’s policy regarding the use of personal information collected in connection with this Contest. If you are selected as a winner, your information may also be included in a publicly-available winner’s list.
12. WINNER’S LIST: For the winner’s list, mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Kara Pederson, Thomson Reuters, 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123 ATTN: BLD Poetry Contest. Requests must be received by September 4, 2019.
