CIPSC 2020 Legal Writing Competition
CONTEST RULES
PURPOSE.
To generate interest in the intersection of intellectual property and technology law among law students of the nation, benefit users, and advance the just and reasoned operation of the law.
COMPETITION PRIZE.
One prize of $1,000 will be awarded for the best entry as judged by the CIPSC Essay Committee, comprised of representatives from Unified Patents Inc. and the Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal. In addition, the winning essays will be considered for possible publication in legal journals, on Unified’s website (https://unifiedpatents.com), or elsewhere, and the first-place winner may be invited to share his or her paper at the Corporate Intellectual Property Strategy Conference co-hosted by Unified and the HTLJ on November 6, 2019. Any winners invited to present at the Corporate Intellectual Property Strategy Conference will be solely responsible for any travel, lodging, and dining expenses they incur. Winners will be required to submit a completed W-9 prior to receiving the award. The winners are responsible for all associated taxes.
ELIGIBILITY.
The competition is open to all full and part-time J.D. law students and recent 2019 J.D. graduates at an ABA-accredited law school. Officers, directors and employees of Unified Patents Inc. and their immediate household and family members are ineligible to enter the competition. Previously published essays are not eligible. Only one entry per participant.
OTHER.
By entering, participants agree that the decision of the judges is final. Unified Patents Inc. and the Santa Clara University High Technology Law Journal are not responsible for any error, computer malfunction, or failed transmission.
AUTHORSHIP.
Each entry shall be the original work of a single individual. The ideas and work reflected by each entry must be the author’s own. The author must perform all of the key tasks of identifying the topic, researching it, analyzing it, formulating positions and arguments, and writing and revising the paper. The author may inform another of the progress made in performing these tasks and accept a reasonable amount of responsive advice from academicians or practitioners in the field, but the student must avoid undue collaboration. For example, the author may obtain a professor’s opinion that a proposed topic is a good choice, or that a detailed outline should be reorganized, or that a first draft unwisely omits to cover a subtopic or to raise and respond to criticisms of the author’s premise. The author must limit the amount of such advice sought or received so that the final entry truly reflects the author’s own ideas and work and not that of another.
JUDGING.
The format of this competition has been selected to stimulate creativity of thought and research. Entries will be judged based on the following criteria: clarity of the theme or thesis presented, significance of the topic to the field of technology law and artificial intelligence or machine learning, originality and creativity of topic treatment, quality of analysis, quality of research and authority provided, and technical quality of writing, including organization, grammar, syntax and form. The entries will be judged anonymously by members of the Essay Committee, consisting of representatives from Unified Patents and the Santa Clara University High Technology Law Journal. The winning selection(s) will be made by the Essay Committee and approved by Unified.
Unified will notify the winner(s) of their selection by email no later than October 30, 2019. If the winner does not respond within 7 business days of notification, or notification is returned as undeliverable, the winner forfeits all rights to participate or receive the prize, and an alternate winner may be selected. Unified reserves the right not to award any prize if it is determined that no entries are of sufficient quality to merit selection.
ENTRY PROCEDURE.
All fields on the Essay Submission Form must be completed. To ensure receipt, the entry may additionally be submitted to Robert Jain (rjain@unifiedpatents.com) at Unified Patents in PDF format. The e-mail should have the subject header “Attn: CIPSC 2019 Essay Competition.” The contestant’s name and other identifying markings such as school name are not to be on any copy of the submitted entry.
The staff of Unified Patents will assign a random number to each entry and record this number on all copies of each essay submitted. Neither the contestant’s identity nor his/her academic institution will be known to the Essay Committee members or the Unified Patents and Santa Clara University High Technology Law Journal representatives judging.
Contestants will receive confirmation of the entry. The winner(s) will be notified by electronic mail of their selection.
ENTRY DEADLINE.
Entries for the competition must be received by Monday, October 15, 2019, by 11:59 PM (Pacific Time).
SUBMISSION.
Your entry form will be submitted once you complete the Essay Submission Form and click submit. Don't forget to e-mail a copy of your essay to rjain@unifiedpatents.com to ensure receipt.
PRIVACY POLICY/DATA COLLECTION
Information provided by entrants in connection with this sweepstakes is subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy, available at https://www.unifiedpatents.com/privacy-policy.
SPONSOR.
Unified Patents Inc., 2 N. 1st Street, Floor 5, San Jose, CA 95113;
LAWS AND REGULATIONS
This contest is governed by U.S. law and all relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. By entering, all participants agree that the competition shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, that the courts of California shall have exclusive jurisdiction, and that Santa Clara County, California shall be the venue for any dispute or litigation relating to or arising from the competition. Void where prohibited by law.
CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION
By participating, each entrant agrees to these rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, and releases and discharges Unified Patents and its officers, directors, members, employees, independent contractors, agents, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively “Sponsor”) from any and all liability whatsoever in connection with this promotion. Except where prohibited, acceptance of a prize constitutes a release by any winner of the Sponsor of any and all Claims in connection with the administration of this promotion and the use, misuse or possession of any prize. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. Sponsor is not responsible for errors or for lost, late, or misdirected mail or email, or telecommunication or hardware or software failures, including by reason of any bug or computer virus or other failure. Sponsor may cancel, modify or terminate the promotion if it is not capable of completion as planned, including by reason of infection by computer virus, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure or technical difficulties of any kind.