Inception Comic Cover Art Contest

PLEASE NOTE: THESE OFFICIAL RULES TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY TERMS OR RIGHTS TO THE CONTRARY SET OUT IN DEVIANTART'S TERMS OF SERVICE, SUBMISSION POLICY OR ETIQUETTE POLICIES AND ANY SELECTION OF A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE WITH RESPECT TO YOUR ENTRY WILL BE TREATED AS NULL AND VOID TO THE EXTENT NOT CONSISTENT WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES.

CONTEST BEGINS AT 12:00:00 AM (PT) ON DECEMBER 9, 2010 AND ENDS AT 11:59:59 PM (PT) ON DECEMBER 28, 2010 (THE "PROMOTION PERIOD"). THE SPONSOR OF THIS CONTEST IS DEVIANTART ("SPONSOR").

HOW TO ENTER: Membership to www.deviantart.com (the "Contest Site") is required to enter the Contest. Membership to www.deviantart.com is free. If Entrant is already a registered member, Entrant is not automatically entered into the Contest. Entrant must be a resident of the United States (including Puerto Rico and U.S. territories, possessions and military installations) and at least 18 years old as of December 9, 2010 to be eligible to enter the Contest. Contest is void where prohibited by law. Entrant must follow the instructions on the Contest Site and submit a piece of traditionally or digitally drawn artwork to be used initially as the cover art ("Work") of the digital comic book "The Big Under" which is a prequel story to the motion picture Inception (the "Picture"), as released by Warner Bros. in 2010. In order to qualify for consideration: (i) the Work is to be inspired by the elements made available to members of deviantART at the Contest Site: the graphic elements/stills from the marketing campaign for the Picture, the trailer for the Picture, the script for "The Big Under", and other visual assets related to "The Big Under" and/or the Picture ("Contest Marks"), (ii) the Work must conform to the template provided for the cover art, also made available to members of deviantART at the Contest Site, (iii) Entries must be a minimum of 3840x2160 pixels. During submission of their entry, if entrant changes the submission option "view size" to one smaller than the minimum resolution, or disables downloading, that entry will be disqualified, and (iv) for the avoidance of doubt, the Contest Marks are not to be directly incorporated into the Work, but are provided solely for inspiration. ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59:59 PM (PT) ON December 28, 2010. No illegible, incomplete, forged or altered entries will be accepted. Entrants may enter as many Works as they like however duplicate entries are not allowed. Employees, volunteers and contractors (and their immediate families and members of the same household) of deviantART or WBEI, their affiliates, agents, judges and advertising and promotion agencies are not eligible to enter or participate in the Contest as an entrant. By entering and participating in the Contest:
1. Entrants expressly acknowledge and agree (A) that the script for "The Big Under", the trailer, the stills, other graphic marketing material for the Picture, any other Contest Marks, the Picture's title and title treatment and any other characters, themes, plots, look and feel, designs, artwork, names, marks, and logos associated with or related to the Picture, and all derivatives of the foregoing, including without limitation, those portions of each Work submitted by Entrants hereunder that are inspired by or derived from any of the foregoing, and all intellectual property rights embodied therein (collectively, the "Inception Licensed Property") shall be and remain the sole and exclusive property of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. ("WBEI") and/or its affiliates or third party licensors (other than deviantART or the Contest entrants), and (B) that Entrants' limited rights to use the Inception Licensed Property are limited to the following uses only: (1) Entrants may use the Inception Licensed Property for purposes of creating and submitting their eligible Work(s) for purposes of entering into the Contest in accordance with these Official Rules; and (2) even though the Entrants will own their Works, their ownership will always be subject to, and restricted by, WBEI's underlying rights in the Inception Licensed Property, so unless the Entrants are able to segregate from their Works all elements of Inception Licensed Property, the only rights Entrants have to display, distribute, make available, and/or reproduce their Works containing Inception Licensed Property are for their own personal, private, nonpublic use or in connection with the Entrants' "sharing" of their Work(s) (that have been entered into the Contest) on their own personal webpages or social networking pages or via email to their friends, but in no event shall Entrants obtain a fee, license, royalty or other payment in exchange for the Work(s). Entrants will not acquire any rights or interests of any kind whatsoever in the Inception Licensed Property or any material developed by Entrant based upon the Inception Licensed Property other than as set out in these Official Rules.
2. The Work (i) may not have been made commercially available, won any other prize/award, been featured as a "Daily Deviation" nor been previously submitted to any other contest, (ii) must be the original work of the Entrant (not copied from anywhere else) and made for the Contest or made for the Inception Group on deviantART, (iii) must be in keeping with Warner Bros.' image and consistent with the tone of the Contest Marks and the Picture as set forth above, (iv) may not be inappropriate, offensive, libelous or defamatory, pornographic, sexually explicit, unlawful or plagiarized, as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion, (v) must not be harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, profane, obscene, excessively violent, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable or offensive in any way, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, (vi) may not violate or encourage others to violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation, (vii) may not defame or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person's personal or property rights or any other third party rights, or involve physical harm to any person or animal, (viii) may not contain commercial/corporate advertising, including but not limited to corporate logos, brand names, and slogans, other than those relating to the Picture, and (ix) may not include any viruses, worms, corrupt files, Trojan horses, or other forms of corruptive code or content that may harm or compromise the Contest Site and/or the proper conduct of the Contest, (x) may not use any watermarks or distinguishing artist marks (such as prominent signatures), and (xi) if found to be in violation of these Official Rules will be disqualified from the Contest and removed from the Contest Site Gallery.
3. By submitting an Entry, Entrant warrants and represents that (i) (s)he has the unrestricted right to submit the Work and that the Work complies with the requirements set out in this Section 1 of the Official Rules; (ii) all persons whose name or likeness appears in the Work ("Work Participants") have unconditionally consented in writing to their appearance in the Work and unconditionally granted Entrant in writing the right to submit the Work subject to these Official Rules and grant the rights granted hereunder, a copy of which consent and grant will be furnished to Sponsor upon request as a condition of qualification; and (iii) the Work does not infringe upon any third party's proprietary or other rights including copyrights and/or trademarks.
4. All Works submitted by an Entrant will remain the property of that Entrant, subject to the terms and conditions of these Official Rules, including without limitation, the following:
  1. Entrant will not acquire any ownership or other interest in any Inception Licensed Property, or in and to any and all trademarks, logos and other intellectual property of Warner Bros. contained in the Work; and Entrant hereby assigns to Warner Home Video, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. ("WHV"), all rights, title and interest that Entrant may have in any portions of his/her Work that are inspired by or derived from any Inception Licensed Property, all of which derivatives shall be deemed to constitute Inception Licensed Property;
  2. except as expressly permitted in these Official Rules, Entrant may not use the Inception Licensed Property, in any other manner whatsoever;
  3. during the Promotion Period, and for a period of two years thereafter, eligible Works submitted to the Contest may be posted at the Contest Site or otherwise used by Sponsor or by WHV or any of its affiliates in any media or manner for purposes of promoting the Contest or the Picture (including, without limitation, its home entertainment releases);
  4. WHV or any of its affiliates may also include the first place winning Work as the cover of "The Big Under", in either a hardcopy or electronic format, in a future home entertainment release. Such release may be distributed by any means now known or hereafter invented, WHV may further use the first place winning Work in in the advertising and promotion of the Picture or "The Big Under" in any fashion whatsoever for the full term of copyright without any further compensation to the Entrant and the first place winner shall provide these rights in writing as part of the winner's execution of his or her Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and (where legal) Publicity Release (the "Affidavit") a copy of which will be provided to the first place winner for execution upon the selection of that Entrant as a winner; and
  5. as condition for the limited license granted to use the Inception Licensed Property, Entrant may not authorize or permit any Work to be used commercially or to promote any product or service of any party (other than WHV or any of its affiliates or the Picture) and Entrant further agrees not to use his or her Work for any purpose other than non-commercial display or email to friends or in connection with a display on a personal webpage or in a personal account on a social network, including deviantART.
SELECTION OF WINNERS: Potential winners will be selected on or about January 11, 2011 from all eligible entries. Fifteen (15) semi-finalists will be selected by full-time deviantART Staff who have familiarized themselves by viewing the motion picture Inception and reviewing the Contest Marks, on the basis of Appropriateness of the Work as a Comic Book Cover, Technical Skill, and Visual Interpretation of "The Big Under". The semi-finalists will be posted in advance of final judging. Only one Work per Entrant may be chosen as a semi-finalist Entry. From the fifteen (15) semi-finalists, the three (3) top winners will be selected by the director of Inception, Christopher Nolan. The three (3) top winners will be announced on January 19, 2011. The judges' decisions are final on all matters relating to the Contest. In the event of a tie in any portion of the judging process, the judges themselves will resolve the tie to the appropriate number of semi-finalists or ranked winners as applicable. Judging of the winners will be based on Appropriateness of the Work as a Comic Book Cover, Technical Skill, and Visual Interpretation of "The Big Under" in whatever degree the judges believe to be appropriate in reaching a decision.
PRIZES: There will be one (1) 1st Place Prize package, one (1) 2nd Place Prize package, and one (1) 3rd Place Prize package awarded, each consisting of the following:

1st Place Prize package: $2,000 USD Cash; 8,000 deviantART Points; one (1) dA Pro Backpack and a one (1) year Premium Membership to deviantART. (Total Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") of 1st Prize package: $2,220.) The winning Entry may be used as the cover art for "The Big Under" in a future home entertainment release of the Picture. Artist will be credited when his/her Work is used as the cover art.

2nd Place Prize package: $500 USD Cash; 8,000 deviantART Points; one (1) dA Pro Backpack; and a one (1) year Premium Membership to deviantART. (ARV of 2nd Prize: $720.)

3rd Place Prize package: $250 USD Cash; 6,000 deviantART Points; one (1) dA Pro Backpack; and a one (1) year Premium Membership to deviantART. (ARV of 3rd Prize: $420.)

Total ARV of all prizes: $3,360. All prizes will be awarded (assuming sufficient and eligible number of Entries have been submitted in accordance with these Official Rules). Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value. No other substitution or transfer of prizes permitted. Taxes and fees, if any, are the sole responsibility of prize winners.

While the first place winning Work is intended to be used as the cover of a comic book, Sponsor and WHV reserve the right to not award this prize if a sufficient number of entries that meet the judging criteria and quality required are not received or if the Picture or comic book are not distributed in the future.
VERIFICATION OF WINNERS AND DELIVERY OF PRIZES: Potential winners will be required to sign an Affidavit in accordance with the provisions of these Official Rules and, where permitted, a publicity release. Prize may be forfeited if Affidavit is not returned within seven days after mailing to potential winner or if prize notification letter or prize is returned as undeliverable. Winner agrees to Sponsor's and WHV's use of his/her name, address, likeness, and/or prize information for promotional purposes in any medium in connection with the Promotion of the Contest and/or the Picture without additional compensation to the extent permitted by law.
GENERAL: This Contest is void outside the United States and where prohibited or restricted by law and is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. This Contest will be governed by the internal laws of the State of California. Any and all legal actions or claims arising in connection with this Contest must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction within the State of California. None of the Contest Entities are responsible for late, lost, stolen, damaged, garbled, incomplete, misaddressed, postage due, incorrect or misdirected entries, mail or communications, for errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, or delays in operations or transmission of information, in each case whether arising by way of technical or other failures or malfunctions of computer hardware, software, communications devices, or transmission lines or data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of entry materials, loss or otherwise. None of the Contest Entities are responsible for electronic communications that are undeliverable as a result of any form of active or passive filtering of any kind, or insufficient space in entrant's e-mail account to receive e-mail messages. Contest Entities disclaim any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participation in, or accessing, posting, uploading or downloading information in connection with, this Contest. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, cancel, terminate or suspend this Contest should any virus, bug, technical failures, unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond Sponsor's reasonable control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the Contest. In the event of any such cancellation, termination or suspension, a notice will be posted on the Contest Site and the winners will be selected from among all eligible Entries received prior to such time. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any Entrant from this Contest or any other promotion conducted now or in the future by Sponsor or any of their affiliates if the Entrant's fraud or misconduct adversely affects the integrity of the Contest. By participating in this Contest, each Entrant accepts the conditions stated in these Official Rules, agrees to be bound by the decisions of the judges and warrants that s/he is eligible to participate in this Contest.
CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
RELEASE OF CLAIMS AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY: Entrant releases each of the Contest Entities and each of their respective their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively, the "Releases") from any and all claims, demands, actions, suits, proceedings or liability of any kind whatsoever (collectively "Claims") which entrant or anyone claiming through him or her, may have at present or which may occur at any time hereafter, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, arising out of, or in connection with, or in any manner related to, any of the following: (i) entrant's Work(s) or any part(s) thereof; (ii) any Use or failure to Use the Work(s) by Sponsor or WHV; (iii) the exercise by Sponsor or WHV of any of the rights granted by Entrant hereunder; (iv) any distortion, blurring or alteration of, editorial revisions to, changes or errors in, the information or other materials contained in the Work(s) or in any part(s) thereof; (v) Entrant's participation or inability to participate in the Contest; or (vi) Entrant's use, misuse, inability to use or unwillingness to use any of the prizing awarded in the Contest or any component thereof. This release is intended to include, without limitation, any Claims for libel, slander, defamation, false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or copyright infringement. Entrant agrees that (s)he will not make, assert or maintain against any of the Releasees or any of their authorized designees any Claims related to any of the foregoing. Entrant agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless each of the Releasees from and against any and all Claims, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable outside attorneys' fees) of any kind or nature whatsoever in connection therewith which may be made or suffered by the Releasees by reason of the breach of any of Entrant's warranties, representations or undertakings under any provision of these Official Rules.

In agreeing to the release provisions of this paragraph, entrant understands that (s)he may be waiving rights with respect to Claims that are at this time unknown or unsuspected, and in accordance with such waiver, entrant hereby acknowledges that (s)he has read and understands, and hereby expressly waives the benefits of Section 1542 of the Civil Code of California, which provides as follows: "A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR."
WINNERS LIST: To obtain winner's list, go to www.deviantart.com. Winners list will be available after selection and verification of winners.
SPONSOR: deviantART, Inc., 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #788, Hollywood, CA 90028.
QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS CONTEST? Go to www.deviantart.com.