Yahoo! Shine Feedback Forum Giveaway

Official Rules:

Yahoo! Shine Feedback Forum Giveaway

THE FOLLOWING PROMOTION ("PROMOTION") AND ITS COMPONENT CONTESTS (EACH, A "CONTEST") IS INTENDED FOR PLAY IN THE FIFTY UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ONLY (COLLECTIVELY, THE "ELIGIBILITY AREA") AND SHALL ONLY BE CONSTRUED AND EVALUATED ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. DO NOT ENTER ANY CONTEST IN THIS PROMOTION IF YOU ARE NOT LOCATED AND LEGALLY RESIDING IN THE ELIGIBILITY AREA DURING THE ENTIRE TERM OF THIS PROMOTION. SEE BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS.

NO ENTRY FEE OR PURCHASE IS REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


ENTRY IN ANY CONTEST ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PROMOTION CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES.

1. About The Promotion: The Yahoo! Shine Forum Feedback Giveaway (the "Promotion") is an ongoing series of monthly contests (each, a "Contest") in which Yahoo! is seeking feedback from Yahoo! Shine users on ways to improve the Yahoo! Shine service (the "Site"). Each Contest begins on the first day of the month at 12:00:00 AM PT and ends on the last day of the month at 11:59:59 PM PT (each, a "Contest Period"). Refer to Rule 3 below for more information about the phases of each Contest Period. The Promotion will continue each month, with subsequent Contest Periods following the same schedule, until the Promotion is terminated by Sponsor in its sole discretion.

2. Eligibility: This Promotion is open to legal residents of the 50 United States or District of Columbia who are at least 18 years of age as of the time of entry. Employees and agents of Yahoo! Inc., ("Sponsor"), and its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies, any other prize sponsor/supplier, and any entity involved in the development, production, implementation, administration or fulfillment of the Promotion (all of the foregoing, together with Sponsor, collectively referred to as "Promotion Entities"), and the immediate family members and persons living in the same households as such individuals, whether related or not, are not eligible to participate or win. Void in overseas U.S. territories, possessions, commonwealths and military installations, and where prohibited by law.

3. Promotion Phases: Each Contest in the Promotion consists of two phases:

  • A. Entry Period: Each month while the Promotion is ongoing, you may enter the current Contest by visiting http://yahoo.uservoice.com/forums/168608-shine (the "Promotion Website") and following the instructions there to submit feedback or an idea for how Yahoo! can improve the Yahoo! Shine service (your "Entry"). You must first log in using your Yahoo! ID. If you are not an existing Yahoo! ID holder, follow the instructions to create a free Yahoo! account. Once you have created your Yahoo! account, or logged in with your existing Yahoo! account, complete the feedback submission form with all required information, and click the "Post Idea" button to submit your Entry. All Entries for a particular Contest must be received by the close of that Contest's Contest Period.

    All Entries and other submitted materials become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. For the purposes of this Promotion and these Official Rules, "receipt" of an Entry occurs when Yahoo!'s servers record the entry information upon clicking the "Post Idea" button at the bottom of the feedback submission form. Any automated computer receipt (such as one confirming delivery of email or a "thanks for entering" message) does not constitute proof of actual receipt of an Entry by Sponsor. The Promotion Entities assume no responsibility for advising an Entrant of an incomplete or otherwise non-compliant submission. Late, unintelligible, incomplete, or garbled entries will be disqualified. Sponsor assumes no liability for lost, damaged or misdirected entries.

  • B. Judging Period: At the conclusion of the Contest Period, the eligible Entries received during the Contest Period will be judged by a panel of Yahoo! Shine staff (the "Judging Period"). Entries will be scored based on the following criteria, with a possible 5 points for each, for a total of 20 possible points (the "Judging Criteria"):

  • a) usefulness

  • b) feasibility

  • c) originality

  • d) overall site impact

Entries received for inclusion in any Contest in this Promotion will also be publicly posted on the Site, where users can vote for those Entries that they'd particularly like to see implemented at Yahoo! Shine. The voting is NOT a formal part of this Promotion and will not determine the outcome of any of the Contests in this Promotion. While the judges may take into account the results of the public voting in their deliberations, they are not bound by those results in selecting the winners of any Contest.

The top Entries as determined by the judges in the Judging Period will be named as the potential winners of that month's Contest, and if verified, will win the Prizes described in Section 6 below. In the event of a tie between two or more entrants, duplicate prizes will be awarded. PLEASE NOTE: EVEN IF YOU ARE CONTACTED AS A POTENTIAL WINNER IN ANY CONTEST IN THIS PROMOTION, YOU HAVE NOT YET WON A PRIZE. ALL POTENTIAL WINNERS ARE SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION, AND MUST MEET ALL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS BEFORE ANY PRIZE WILL BE AWARDED.


4. General Conditions of Entry: By entering the Promotion, each Entrant:

A. agrees to be bound by these Official Rules, which will be posted at the Promotion Site throughout the Promotion, and by the standard policies, rules and regulations governing the Yahoo! service, including, without limitation, the Yahoo! Terms of Service; and acknowledges that failure to comply with any of the above will result in disqualification from the Promotion;

B. agrees to comply with and be bound by the decisions of the Sponsor and the judges relating to this Promotion, which shall in each case be final and binding in all respects;

C. WARRANTS AND REPRESENTS THAT THE ENTRANT OWNS ALL RIGHTS TO THE SUBMISSION HE/SHE IS ENTERING IN THIS CONTEST, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL CONTENT, COPYRIGHTABLE, PATENTABLE OR OTHER PROTECTABLE MATERIAL OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CONTAINED WITHIN THE ENTRY (COLLECTIVELY, THE "CONTEST ENTRY MATERIALS"), AND CAN PROVIDE WRITTEN CONFIRMATION OF ANY OF THE ABOVE UPON REQUEST;

D. WARRANTS AND REPRESENTS THAT HIS/HER SUBMISSION(S): (i) ARE ORIGINAL TO THE ENTRANT AND HAVE BEEN LEGALLY OBTAINED AND CREATED, (ii) DO NOT INFRINGE THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, PRIVACY OR PUBLICITY RIGHTS OR ANY OTHER LEGAL OR MORAL RIGHTS OF ANY THIRD PARTY, OR VIOLATE APPLICABLE LAWS, REGULATIONS, OR NETWORK STANDARDS; (iii) HAVE NOT BEEN ENTERED IN OR WON PREVIOUS CONTESTS OR AWARDS; AND (iv) HAVE NOT BEEN PUBLISHED PREVIOUSLY IN ANY MEDIUM;

E. irrevocably grants to Promotion Entities and their affiliates, legal representatives, assigns, agents and licensees, the worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable, unconditional, perpetual and transferable right and license to copyright/trademark/patent (as applicable), reproduce, encode, store, modify, copy, transmit, publish, post, broadcast, display, publicly perform, adapt, exhibit and/or otherwise use or reuse (without limitation as to when or to the number of times used), the Entrant's Contest Entry Materials, along with (as applicable) his/her name, address, image, voice, likeness, statements, and biographical material, as well as any additional photographic images, video images, portraits, interviews or other materials relating to the Entrant and arising out of his/her participation in this Contest (with or without using the Entrant's name) (collectively, the "Additional Materials") (in each case, as submitted or as edited/modified in any way, whether by the Promotion Entities, their licensees, or assigns, in the Promotion Entities' sole discretion) in any media, format or medium throughout the world for any purpose, without limitation, and without additional review, compensation, or approval from the Entrant or any other party, except as prohibited by law;

F. grants to others: (i) the non-exclusive license to access the Contest Entry Materials through the Contest Site, Yahoo! Video service or other locations on the Yahoo! network; (ii) the ability for Yahoo! registered users ("Yahoo! Users") to rate, review, comment on and tag the Contest Entry Materials; (iii) the ability for Yahoo! Users to send and distribute the Contest Entry Materials to others via the Internet or any other medium; (v) the ability to access the Contest Entry Materials via Yahoo!'s web service APIs or via RSS or any similar XML or related feeds; and (vi) the non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, distribute, remix, prepare derivative works of and compilations, display and perform the Contest Entry Materials as permitted under the Yahoo! Terms of Service (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/) and Yahoo! Content Upload Additional Terms of Service (http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/contentupload/details.html);

G. except where prohibited by law, forever waives any rights of privacy, intellectual property rights, and any other legal or moral rights that may preclude Promotion Entities' use of the entrant's Contest Entry Materials or Additional Materials, or require the Contest Entrant's permission for Promotion Entities to use them for any purpose, and agrees to never sue or assert any claim against the Promotion Entities' use of those Materials;

H. acknowledges and agrees that (a) Promotion Entities have access to and/or may create or have created other materials, ideas and concepts which may be similar or identical to the Contest Entry Materials in concept, implementation, methodology, design, and/or other respects; (b) the Contest Entrant will not be entitled to any compensation or other consideration because of the use by Promotion Entities of any such similar or identical material, ideas and/or concepts; and (c) Promotion Entities' use of material containing elements similar to or identical with those contained in the Contest Entry Materials or any Submission shall not obligate Promotion Entities to negotiate with nor entitle Participant to any compensation or other claim;

I. agrees to indemnify and hold the Promotion Entities and their respective affiliates, officers, directors, agents, co-branders or other partners, and any of their employees (collectively, the "Promotion Indemnitees"), harmless from any and all claims, damages, expenses, costs (including reasonable attorneys' fees) and liabilities (including settlements), brought or asserted by any third party against any of the Promotion Indemnitees arising out of or in connection with (i) any Contest Entry Materials or Additional Materials (including, but not limited to, any and all claims of third parties, whether or not groundless, based on the submission of such other material); (ii) any breach by Contest Entrant of any warranty, agreement or representation contained in the Official Rules or terms of service or in any documentation submitted by Participant; (iii) the Contest Entrant's conduct during and in connection with any Contest offered in connection with this Promotion, including but not limited to trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights, right of publicity, right of privacy or defamation; or (iv) the acceptance of any prize.

5. Prizes: The description and quantity of Prizes offered in each month's Contest, together with the approximate retail value of each, will be posted on the Promotion Website.

The following applies to all prizes: Limit one Prize per winner in any three-month period of Contests offered in connection with this Promotion. Prizes cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion or offer. Prizes may not be transferred or assigned except by Sponsor or as provided herein. Only listed Prizes will be awarded and no substitutions, equivalents or redemptions will be made, except that Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize or any component thereof with another prize of equal or greater value in the event that the advertised prize (or any component thereof) is not available. Expenses not specifically stated above, together with the reporting and payment of all applicable income taxes, arising out of, or resulting from, acceptance or use of a prize, are the sole responsibility of the winner. Reporting and payment of all applicable income taxes on a prize are the sole responsibility of the winner . Yahoo! expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability for injury or loss to any person or property relating to the delivery and/or subsequent use of the prizes awarded. Yahoo! makes no representations or warranties concerning the appearance, safety, or performance of any prize awarded. Restrictions, conditions, and limitations apply. Once issued, Sponsor will not replace any lost or stolen prize items.

6. Winner Notification: Potential winners in each Contest will be notified within approximately fourteen days after winner selection via email, U.S. mail, telephone and/or overnight courier. Prize winners may be required to sign, notarize and return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability/Publicity Release (except where prohibited by law) and provide any additional information (such as social security number), that may be required by Promotion Entities. Except where prohibited by law, potential winner must return all such required documents within seven days following first attempted written notification. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable, or inability of Promotion Entities to contact a potential winner in accordance with the deadlines stated in these Official Rules may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner using the methods and ranking system described above.

7. General Conditions: This Promotion and its component Contests are governed by the laws of the United States, including all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.

Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify the Entry of any individual found to be (a) tampering or attempting to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Promotion or any Yahoo! website; (b) violating the Official Rules; (c) violating the terms of service, conditions of use and/or general rules or guidelines of any Yahoo! property or service, or (d) acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. Further, Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify and remove any Entry which, in Yahoo!'s sole opinion, is deemed disparaging to the Sponsor or otherwise portraying Sponsor in a negative manner, or otherwise offensive, libelous, slanderous, inflammatory, or inappropriate in any way for this Promotion. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DISQUALIFY AND SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

By accepting a Prize, a winner agrees to release and hold harmless Promotion Entities, and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees, and agents from any and all liability for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind to persons, including but not limited to death, or property, resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize, participation in this promotion, or while traveling to, preparing for or participating in any prize-related activity.

8. Limitations of Liability: The Promotion Entities assume no responsibility for any computer, online, telephone transmission or technical malfunctions that may occur during participation in the Promotion, or for theft, destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, Entry Materials. Promotion Entities are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users, Promotion participants or any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Promotion; or for any technical or human error which may occur in the transmission, receipt or processing of submissions in the Promotion. Promotion Entities assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, failures or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, providers, computer equipment, software, email, players or browsers, whether on account of technical problems, traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or on account of any combination of the foregoing (including but not limited to any such problems which may result in the inability to access the Promotion Website). Promotion Entities are not responsible for any injury or damage to participants or to any computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading materials in this Promotion. If, for any reason, the Promotion is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of Promotion Entities which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Promotion, Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Promotion and select the winner from among qualifying entries received prior to the time/date of the action or event warranting such cancellation, termination, modification or suspension, if any.

9. DISPUTES/GOVERNING LAW: Except where prohibited by law, as a condition of participating in this Promotion, Entrant agrees that any and all disputes which cannot be resolved between the parties, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Promotion, or any prize awarded, or the determination of winners shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances will Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to claim punitive, incidental or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys' fees, other than Entrant's actual out-pocket expenses (e.g., costs associated with entering this Promotion), and Entrant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

All issues and questions rights and obligations of Entrant in connection with this Promotion shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of California, 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 these Official Rules and/or for entering any judgment on an arbitration award, shall take place in the State of California, County of Santa Clara.

The parties waive rights to trial by jury in any action or proceeding instituted in connection with these Official Rules and/or this Promotion. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these Official Rules and/or this Promotion shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis, and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The arbitration shall be conducted in the State of California, County of Santa Clara, and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof.

9. Privacy: By entering the Promotion, you agree to Yahoo!'s use of your personal information as described in Yahoo!'s Privacy Policy, located athttp://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/promotions/details.html.

10. Winner's List: The names of the winners in each Contest offered in connection with this Promotion may be obtained for a period of 90 days following the close of that Contest's Contest Period by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Yahoo! Shine Feedback Forum Giveaways, Winners List Requests, 475 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. Please specify the Contest Period for which you are requesting information.

11. Official Rules: For a copy of the Official Rules, print this web page or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Yahoo! Shine Feedback Forum Giveaways, Official Rules Requests, 475 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. VT residents omit return postage. Requests received after the date this Promotion is terminated by the Sponsor will not be honored.

12. Sponsor: Yahoo! Inc., 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.