2019 MerCouncil Rules

MERMAID MANIA 2019 MERCOUNCIL SEARCH CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES

PLEASE REVIEW THESE OFFICIAL RULES BEFORE PARTICIPATING IN THE MERMAID MANIA 2019 MERCOUNCIL SEARCH CONTEST. ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

Sponsor: Blue Spring Partners, LLC, dba Fin Fun (“Fin Fun” or “Sponsor”), 3018 N. Holmes Ave, Idaho Falls, ID 83401, U.S.A.
Judge: The presenting judge of this giveaway is Blue Springs Partners, LLC, dba Fin Fun (“Fin Fun” or “Sponsor”).
Administrator: The presenting judge of this contest is Blue Spring Partners, LLC, dba Fin Fun (“Fin Fun” or “Sponsor”)

1. ELIGIBILITY:
The Mermaid Mania 2019 MerCouncil Search Contest (“MerCouncil Contest”) is open to legal residents of the United States, U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia (“Territory”) who are between the ages of 6 and 12 as of the submission deadline of June 24, 2019. Entrants MUST be registered by a parent or legal guardian to participate. Employees of Sponsor and their immediate families (spouses, parents, siblings, children and each of their respective spouses), other participating sponsors and each of their respective parent companies, divisions, subsidiaries, affiliates, retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and each of their advertising and promotion agencies (collectively, the “Contest Entities”) are not eligible to win. This event is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Void where restricted or prohibited by law.

2. AGREEMENT TO RULES:
By participating, Entrant (and Entrant’s parent or legal guardian) agrees to be fully and unconditionally bound by these rules and represents and warrants that they meet the eligibility requirements set forth herein. In addition, Entrant (and Entrant’s parent or legal guardian) accepts the decisions of Sponsor as final and binding as it relates to the Contest.

3. HOW TO ENTER:
The Contest Entry period begins 9:30:00 AM Mountain Time (“MT”) on June 10, 2019 and ends at 11:59:59 PM MT on June 24, 2019. Entries that are not complete or do not adhere to the rules or specifications may be disqualified at the sole discretion of Sponsor. An individual may not enter more than once by using multiple email addresses, identities or devices in an attempt to circumvent the rules. If you use fraudulent methods or otherwise attempt to circumvent the rules, your submission may be removed from eligibility at the sole discretion of Sponsor.
The Contest consists of:
A: An “Entry Phase” that begins at 9:30:00 AM Mountain Time (“MT”) on June 10, 2019 and ends at 11:59:59 PM MT on June 24, 2019.
B: A “Judging Phase” that begins at 8:00:00 AM Mountain Time (“MT”) on June 25, 2019 and ends at 5:00:00 PM Mountain Time on July 2, 2019.
C: A “Winners Phase” that begins at 8:00:00 AM Mountain Time (“MT”) on July 3, 2019 and ends at 5:00:00 PM Mountain Time on July 3, 2019.
Each entry received in the “Entry Phase” that meets the Qualifying Criteria (as described in Section 4 of these Rules) will enter the “Judging & Selection of Winners Phase” as further described in Section 6 of the Rules.

During the Entry Phase, a parent or legal guardian may enter their child into the Contest by helping their child complete a written application on https://finfriends.com/mermaidmania and uploading a photo of the entrant. Fin Fun would prefer this photo be headshot-style Professional photography not required – a cell phone photo is acceptable. This photo should be sized a minimum of 720 pixels x 576 pixels and should include ONLY THE APPLICANT.

An opportunity to upload an accompanying video will be provided in the written application. This is optional, and entrants will not be penalized for not providing a video. Entrants who have completed the application will then enter the Judging Phase.

A minimum of 24 MerCouncil Members will be selected from qualified entries received. Entrants will be judged based upon the Judging Criteria, as further described in Section 6 of these Rules.
Only Winners will be eligible to be a MerCouncil Member and receive the associated benefits, as further described in Section 9 of these Rules.

4. QUALIFYING CRITERIA AND REQUIREMENTS:
Each entrant must be an experienced swimmer.

Entrant’s Photo and Optional Video:
• Must not contain material that violates or infringes another’s rights (whether living or deceased), including, but not limited to, privacy, publicity, copyright or other intellectual property rights (Ex: copyrighted music or artwork);
• Should not contain any person other than the applicant. IF a photo or video does include other person(s), Entrant MUST have approval from any persons (if minors, approval from their parent or legal guardian) appearing in the Entry and the Entrant must be able to provide express written consent of every such person appearing in the Entry to Sponsor and/or Administrator if requested;
• Must not include any personally identifiable information of any other person, such as full name, address or phone number;
• Must be the sole, exclusive and original work of the Entrant and must not contain images or artwork, quotes, parodies or other materials not created by Entrant;
• Must not in any way contain any logos, brand names or trademarks other than Sponsor’s, which Sponsor has granted Entrant a limited license to use for purposes of this Contest as set forth in Section 5 of these Rules;
• Must not contain, facilitate, reference, or use material that is fraudulent, inappropriate, indecent, lewd, pornographic, obscene, hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;
• Must not contain, facilitate, reference or use material that contains prohibited content which shall include, but is not limited to, content that promotes, suggests, or encourages:
o the use of firearms/weapons/ammunition, any illegal drugs, prostitution, pornography, nudity, profanity or other adult content, violence, or the use of alcohol or tobacco products;
o the taking up of arms against any person, government or entity or otherwise challenges or seek to overthrow any government;
• Must not contain any viruses, spyware, malware, or other malicious components that are designed to harm the functionality of a computer in any way;
• Must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any jurisdiction where Entry is created.
NOTE: If any Entry fails to comply with any of these Entry Guidelines and Requirements or any other provisions of these Rules, Sponsor/Administrator reserve the right to disqualify the Entrant and the Entry will not be eligible to win.

5. SPONSOR’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) AND GENERAL ENTRY TERMS:
Each Entrant retains ownership of his/her Entry. Each Entrant hereby grants to Sponsor and its affiliated companies and designated agents a non-exclusive, transferable, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty free, unconditional, fully paid license and right (a) to post and to make, have made, use, copy, reproduce, modify, and create derivative works of the Entry and any materials provided by the Entrant with the Entrant’s Entry or otherwise through the Contest (“Entrant Materials”), (b) to publicly perform or display, import, broadcast, transmit, distribute (directly and indirectly), or license the Entry and Entrant Materials (and derivative works thereof), and (c) to sublicense to third parties the foregoing rights, including the right to sublicense to further third parties.

If requested, Entrant’s parent or legal guardian will sign any documentation that may be required for Sponsor or its designees to make use of the non-exclusive rights Entrant is granting to use the Entry and Entrant Materials.

6. JUDGING AND SELECTION OF WINNERS:
During the Judging Phase, all eligible Entries received during the Entry Phase will be judged by a panel of qualified judges (“Judges”) to determine a minimum of 24 winners.
The Judges will score each Entry according to the following weighted judging criteria (collectively, “Judging Criteria”):
1) Creativity– 25%
2) Reflects Fin Fun Values – 25%
3) Personality – 25%
4) Enthusiasm for Mermaids and Swimming – 25%
Winners will be announced on or about July 3, 2019.

In the event of a tie, the Entry that received the highest score during the Judging Phase in “Reflects Fin Fun Values” will be deemed the winner.

7. PRIZES AND APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUE (“ARV”):
A minimum of 24 MerCouncil Contest Winners will receive:
• One mermaid tail and monofin of Fin Fun’s choosing (ARV $90).
• Opportunity to be featured on FinFun.com and FinFriends.com websites on an “MerCouncil” webpage.
• Opportunity to be part of a panel that provides input/feedback to Fin Fun on designs/products.
• Sneak peeks of upcoming products.

The ARV of each Grand Prize is $90. Prize fulfillment will be complete by June 30, 2019. ARV may vary from actual value, depending on mermaid tail size and tail skin design as selected by Fin Fun. The specifics of the prize shall be solely determined by the Sponsor. No cash or other prize substitution permitted except at Sponsor’s discretion. The prize is nontransferable. Any and all prize related expenses, including without limitation any and all federal, state, and/or local taxes shall be the sole responsibility of the Winner.

8. PRIZE CONDITIONS:
Acceptance of prize constitutes agreement by Winner that Sponsor, Administrator and their respective parent, related, affiliated, and subsidiary companies and their respective officers, directors’ agents, employees and assigns, shall be released and discharged from any and all legal claims, losses, injuries, demands, damages, actions, and/or causes of actions that arise out of and/or are in any way related to a prize and/or the receipt, use and/or enjoyment of a prize and/or the Contest. All benefits are personal to each winner and are not redeemable for cash and are neither assignable nor transferable.

Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for Sponsor to use Winner’s name, likeness, and Entry Material for promotional and advertising purposes, in any and all media, without further compensation, unless prohibited by law, as further defined below. By participating in the Contest, Entrants agree to be bound by the Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor.

ALL PRIZES ARE AWARDED “AS-IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, OTHER THAN THE EXISTING 90-DAY TAIL TIP WARRANTY AND LIFETIME GUARANTEE AGAINST BREAKAGE FOR THE MONOFIN INSERT.

9. NOTIFICATIONS TO PRIZE WINNERS AND REQUIREMENTS TO CLAIM PRIZES:
A. Notification of Winners: The Contest Winners selected to be part of the Fin Fun MerCouncil will be notified by email and/or telephone at the email address or telephone number provided on their Entry beginning July 3, 2019. The potential MerCouncil Winner must respond to such notification within three (3) calendar days from the date notification is sent and must return the Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability/Publicity Release within fourteen (14) days from the date it is postmarked by Sponsor.
B. General Requirements: At the sole discretion of the Sponsor, disqualification, forfeiture and the selection of an alternate MerCouncil Contest Winner may result from any of the following:
[a] any potential Contest Winner’s failure to respond within the time periods set forth above;
[b] failure to provide any other requested information in the time period specified;
[c] the return of an e-mail notification sent by Sponsor/Administrator as undeliverable after three (3) attempts; and
[d] potential Contest Winner’s failure to provide Administrator with satisfactory proof of age, identity and residency (upon request only);
[e] potential Contest Winner’s failure to execute and return an Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability/Publicity Release within fourteen (14) calendar days from the date the form is sent to the potential Contest Winner.

Federal, state, and local taxes and all other expenses not specified herein are each winner’s sole responsibility. In the event that a potential MerCouncil Contest Winner is disqualified for any reason, or does not accept a prize, Sponsor, in its sole and absolute discretion, will award the prize to the Entrant with the next-highest overall score, subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Rules. In such cases where the prize is not accepted or where a Contest Winner has forfeited, there will, as necessary, be up to two (2) alternate Contest Winners contacted in order based on overall score, after which the prize, if not accepted by an eligible Contest Winner, will not be awarded.

10. INTERNET/LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY:
Sponsor, Administrator, their respective parent, related, affiliated and subsidiary companies, their advertising, promotion and contest software agencies, all other entities involved in the creation, administration, or fulfillment of the Contest, and all of their respective successors, assigns, directors, officers, employees, agents and independent contractors (individually and collectively, “Releasees”), are not responsible for technical malfunctions of any kind, including but not limited to interrupted or unavailable network server or other connections; miscommunications; failed, partial, or garbled telephone or computer transmissions; jumbled, scrambled or misdirected Entries or transmissions; phone, electrical, network, computer hardware or software or program malfunctions, failures or difficulties; other errors, omissions, interruptions, or deletions of any kind, whether due to electronic, human, mechanical, printing, production or technical errors or other causes; or for any damage to any person’s computer or wireless device related to participating in the Contest.

Additionally, Releasees are not responsible for illegible, unintelligible, late, lost or stolen Entries; incorrect or inaccurate Entry information, whether caused by Internet users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest; or for any technical or human errors which may occur in the processing of any Entries in the Contest. Any person attempting to enter using multiple identities or any other device or artifice to enter multiple times or to interfere with the proper administration of the Contest will be disqualified from participation in the Contest. Additionally, any use of robotic, automatic, macro, programmed, third party or like methods to participate in the Contest will void any attempted participation effected by such methods and result in the disqualification of the individual utilizing the same.

Administrator reserves the right to disqualify any individual found or suspected, in its sole opinion, to be tampering with the operation of the Contest; to be acting in violation of these Rules; or to be acting with the intent to disrupt the normal operation of the Contest. If, in the judgment of Administrator, the Contest is compromised by viruses, bugs, non-authorized human intervention or other causes that corrupt or inhibit, or may corrupt or inhibit the administration, security, fairness or intended proper play of the Contest, so that it cannot be conducted as originally planned or intended, Administrator has the right, in its sole discretion, to modify the Rules or to cancel, modify, terminate or suspend the Contest (except where prohibited by law); and in such event, to select the winners by such method as Sponsor in its sole discretion shall consider equitable.

RELEASEES MAKE NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT AS REGARDS ANY PRIZE OR ANY COMPONENT OF A PRIZE. AS SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS OF EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS TO LEARN IF ANY OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY APPLY TO YOU.

Additionally, entrants agree to release and hold harmless social media outlets such as: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube from and against any claims arising out of or in conjunction with the giveaway or receipt or use of any prize. Further, entrants acknowledge that this giveaway is in no way sponsored by, endorsed by, or administered by, or associated with any other third party.

The winner(s) agrees to assume all liability activity with prize, and commits to follow all safety guidelines, product use instructions, and have required parental guidance and permission.

11. PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF USE:
Any personally identifiable information collected during participation in the Contest is subject to Sponsor’s privacy policy (https://www.finfunmermaid.com/privacy-policy-cookie-restriction-mode).

12. GOVERNING LAW:
Any disputes arising out of or related to the giveaway shall be resolved by binding arbitration in Idaho under Idaho law. All Entrants consent to the jurisdiction of such court and to the service of process outside the State of Idaho pursuant to the requirements of such court in any matter submitted to it, and they expressly waive the right to a jury trial.

12. RELEASE:
By participating, all entrants, any winners and their family members, agents, and employees release and agree to indemnify and hold harmless Releasees from and against any and all costs, claims, damages, or any other injury, whether due to negligence or otherwise, to person(s) or property (including, without limitation, death or violation of any personal rights, such as violation of right of publicity/privacy, libel, or slander), due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to participation in the Contest, or arising out of participation in any Contest or Contest-related activity, or the receipt, use, or misuse of a prize.

13. WINNERS’ LIST:
Winners will be announced on the Mermaid Mania (https://finfriends.com/mermaidmania) website on or about July 3, 2019. To obtain the official list of winners, please visit https://finfriends.com/mermaidmania no later than July 31, 2019.