New Ideas for a New Carolina

Official Rules

Eligibility

There is no purchase necessary to enter this Contest. Contest is open and offered only to legal residents of the State of South Carolina. Void where prohibited. Persons in any of the following categories are NOT eligible to submit an entry: (a) persons who are younger than 18 years of age at the time of entry submission, (b) persons who do not legally reside in the State of South Carolina., (c) persons employed by New Carolina and FastTracSC and the Sponsors; (d) employees of companies providing services for this Contest; (e) the Judges for this contest and persons directly employed by Judges; and (f) the immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of persons in any of the preceding categories.

Entries

The Contest will begin at 8:00AM (Eastern Time) on May 28, 2007, and continue until 11:59PM. (Eastern Time) on April 15, 2007 or until 5,000 entries have been received. Entries may only be submitted online by visiting http://newcarolina.org/new-ideas/ and completing the entire form. Each entrant is limited to three entries. Except for entries submitted via the Internet, no mechanically reproduced entries will be accepted. FastTracSC is not responsible and/or liable for any technical error, hardware, software, or telephone malfunctions or omissions of any kind regardless of its origin or source, or for any of the effects thereof, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, inaccurate, garbled, or delayed electronic communications caused by FastTracSC or its agents, the user or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest or by any human error which may occur in the processing of the entries of this Contest and which may limit a participant's ability to participate.

Confidentiality:

It is the policy of the Contest that all Intellectual Property (IP) remains the ownership of the entrants. It should be noted that the disclosure of specific information regarding a business concept, invention, trade secret or trademark in a business plan competition may constitute public disclosure as it relates to patent protection and other legal IP protection. For entrants thinking about pursuing a patent or seeking to maintain trade secret protection, the disclosure of your business concept as a part of this competition may place the concept in the public domain precluding the ability to patent the concept or protect it as a trade secret. It is the responsibility of any entrant that has concerns about public disclosure to check with an attorney prior to submitting their plan to the competition. Judges will not be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement but will not be able to make copies of the submitted ideas and will be asked to avoid discussion of the contents of the ideas with anyone not associated with the Competition. In sum, if you are concerned about the ability to protect the concept and information that you plan on submitting in this Contest, we suggest you do some research on copyrights, patents, trade secrets and trademarks and contact a lawyer that is knowledgeable in these fields.

Requirements

Entries submitted must be original to the individual entering this Contest and cannot have been previously published, submitted to another competition or contest, or used for advertising or promotional purposes.

Judges

New Carolina and FastTracSC will, at its sole discretion, select a panel of qualified Judges. Winning entries will be selected by the Judges in their sole discretion. Entries will be judged based on the following three criteria: Viability: (makes credible and believable case, is concise and easy to understand, and demonstrates relevant industry knowledge (competition, market need, pricing etc..) Innovation/Vision: (demonstrates creative thought, revolutionary or new perspective on existing markets and businesses, extraordinary vision for business in South Carolina. Profit/Revenue Potential: (satisfies a need in a commercially significant market, demonstrates operational feasibility and/or expertise, and/or offers superior alternative to products or services available now from others).

Prizes

All federal and local taxes are solely the responsibility of the winners. No substitution or transfer of prizes allowed.

Notification and Delivery

Winners will be announced at the ThinkTEC Innovation Summit on May 7, 2007. All winners will be required to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and Publicity Release within 14 days of notification of winning.

Alternates

In the event of non-compliance with these Official Rules, failure to meet all eligibility requirements or failure to properly return the Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release and Publicity Release (except where prohibited by law) or prize notification is returned as unclaimed, the relevant prize(s) will be forfeited and awarded to alternate winner(s).

Limitation of Liability

By participating, entrants agree to release and hold New Carolina and FastTracSC and its parent, subsidiaries, officers, directors, shareholders, employees and agents and affiliated companies harmless from any and all liability for any loss, harm, damage, cost, or expense including without limitation property damage, personal injury and/or death arising out of participation in this contest or the acceptance, use or misuse of any prize. New Carolina and FastTracSC and its agents are not responsible for late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incorrectly addressed, incomplete, illegible, undeliverable, destroyed or postage-due mail, entries, or winner notification. New Carolina and FastTracSC and its affiliates, subsidiaries, parent company, and their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees and agents, and any and all Internet service and access provider(s) are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate entry information, human error, technical malfunctions, failures, omissions, interruption, deletion, or defect of any telephone network, computer online systems, computer equipment, service providers, or software, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer relating to or resulting from participation in this contest, inability to access the New Carolina and FastTracSC web site, theft, tampering, destruction, or unauthorized access to, or alteration of entries, transactions that are processed late or incorrectly or are incomplete or lost due to computer or electronic malfunction or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site. New Carolina and FastTracSC reserve the right to cancel, modify or suspend this Contest in the event that virus, bugs or other causes beyond their control corrupt the online entry submission process, entry storage or access, or any other aspect of the online administration of this Contest. In such event, the winners will be determined based on the judging panel's evaluation of all eligible online entries received (if any) prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by New Carolina and FastTracSC. Notice of such action will be posted on http://newcarolina.org/new-ideas/. Any use of robotic, automatic, programmed or like entry methods is prohibited. Any attempt by an entrant or any other individual to deliberately tamper with or undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, New Carolina and FastTracSC reserve the right to disqualify the entrant (if appropriate) and/or seek damages and other remedies from any such person as permitted by law. In the event of a dispute as to online entries submitted by multiple users having the same email account, the authorized subscriber of the email account used to enter the Contest at the actual time of entry will be deemed to be the entrant and must comply with these Official Rules. The authorized account subscriber is deemed to be the natural person who is assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization, which is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.

Terms of Participation in Contest

Except where legally prohibited, winners hereby grant (and agree to confirm that grant in writing) permission for New Carolina and FastTracSC and those acting under its authority to use his/her name, photograph, voice and/or likeness, for advertising, trade and/or publicity purposes without additional compensation in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide and on the Internet and the World Wide Web, without notice, review or approval. Winners agree that the release of information about his/her winning entries, including dissemination to the public and media through any channels, will be made solely by New Carolina and FastTracSC.

Jurisdiction and Venue

Any legal action arising out of or in connection with this Contest shall be brought in the State or Federal Courts located in Charleston County, South Carolina and shall be governed by South Carolina