1.    ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal residents located in one (1) of the fifty (50) United States including the District of Columbia who are at least thirteen (13) years of age or older as of date of entry. Employees of AOL Inc. (the “Sponsor”), Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and each of their respective brands, affiliates, parents, subsidiaries, divisions, suppliers, distributors and advertising, promotional and judging agencies and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible to participate or win.  For purposes of this Contest, immediate family members are defined as spouse, domestic partner, parents, legal guardians, in-laws, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren.  Void where prohibited by law.

2.    HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST: To enter the Contest, submit a photo of your cat or dog via email to pawnationcutepet@aol.com during the Contest Period. Photos should be no larger than 10MB in size and must be submitted via JPEG. There must be either one (1) cat or one (1) dog in your photo. People may not appear in the photo. Photographs shall herein be referred to as “Entry.” Directions for emailing photos will be provided on pawnation.com (“Contest Website”), where each Entrant will also need to read and agree to the Contest Website’s Terms and Conditions. Entrants under the age of 18 must have permission from their parent or legal guardian before submitting a photo - for more information, see Section 7 below.  The Entry must be the property of the “Entrant” and must be non-professional. All Entries must be submitted by 11:59:59 p.m. ET on July 7, 2010. Limit one (1) Contest Entry per person for the entire Contest Period. Duplicate submissions will automatically be disqualified. By submitting an Entry, you understand and agree that your Entry may be posted on the Contest Website (or other websites) for public viewing and voting. Any Entry deemed inappropriate or unsuitable, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, will be disqualified. Any Entry or portion thereof that is, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, illegal, obscene, profane, lewd, defamatory, contains any third-party materials, or otherwise violates or infringes (or may infringe) any copyright, trademark, logo, mark that identifies a brand or other proprietary right of any person living or deceased (including, but not limited to, rights of privacy or publicity or portrayal in a false light) or entity, or is otherwise objectionable, will not be considered and may disqualify the Entrant. Therefore, any clothing/collars/leashes worn in the Entry should not contain any visible logos, drawings, cartoons, phrases, trademarks or other third-party materials. Entrants may not copy or otherwise plagiarize the Entry from any source. No Entry shall contain any content that has been previously published in any medium (excluding any social media site) or submitted in any other competition. Any Entry not in compliance with the above or that does not meet the Contest Website’s requirements will be disqualified. If, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, the Entry (or any portion thereof) appears to have resulted in any injury or bodily harm of the cat or dog, it will likely be rejected. Entries must be in keeping with Sponsor's public image and may not be offensive, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, nor can it defame or invade publicity rights or privacy rights of any cat or dog, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person's personal or proprietary rights. In such an event, the Entry will be disqualified from the Contest. All Entries submitted become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Normal Internet access and usage charges imposed by Entrants’ online service provider will apply. No information regarding Entries or judging, other than as otherwise set forth in the Official Rules, will be disclosed.  Contest is subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  Failure to provide true and accurate information will automatically disqualify you from participating in the Contest.  Entry in the Contest does not constitute entry into any other promotion, contest, or sweepstakes.

3.    SEMI-FINALIST JUDGING: Immediately following the conclusion of the Contest Period (from July 8, 2010 to July 11, 2010), the eligible Entries will be judged by a panel of Sponsor-selected judges from Paw Nation, based on who they determine to be the Cutest Pet to determine the eight (8) Semi-Finalist Entries – four (4) cat category Entries and four (4) dog category (individually, a “Category”) Entries. Decisions of judges are final with respect to all matters relating to the Contest. The Cutest Pet photos will be judged on the following criteria: Photo Quality: 25%, Relevance to Theme: 50%, Best Overall Photo: 25%. In the event of a tie, tied entries will be re-judged based solely on Best Overall Photo.

4.    PUBLIC VOTING: There will be two (2) voting segments for this Contest. Voting Segment 1 (Semi-Finalist Voting): From 12:00 a.m. midnight ET on July 12, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. ET on July 21, 2010, the eight (8) Semi-Finalist Entries (four [4] from each Category) will be posted on the Contest Website for the public to vote on. You may go to the Contest Website and then vote on the animal you think is the cutest from the Semi-Finalists shown on-screen. All votes must be completed and submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 21, 2010 to be eligible for Voting Segment 1. The top two (2) Semi-Finalists per Category will be deemed Finalists and move on to the next round of voting. In the event of a public voting tie, tied Semi-Finalists per Category will be judged by Sponsor, based (100%) on who they determine to be the Cutest Pet, to determine the Finalist. Voting Segment 2 (Finalist Voting): From 12:00 a.m. midnight on July 22, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. on July 30, 2010, the four (4) Finalist Entries (two [2] from each Category) will be posted on the Contest Website for the public to vote on. You may go to the Contest Website and the vote on the animal you think is the cutest from the Finalists shown on-screen. All votes must be completed and submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 30, 2010, to be eligible for Voting Segment 2. The top cat Entry and the top dog Entry from the Finalists will be deemed the potential Grand Prize winners. In the event of a public voting tie, tied Entries will be judged by Sponsor, based (100%) on who they determine to be the Cutest Pet to determine the potential Grand Prize winner. The use of robotic or automatic devices for voting is prohibited and Sponsor reserves the right to nullify all such votes and to disqualify from voting the responsible individual.

5.    CONTEST PRIZES AND APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUES (“ARV”): Semi-Finalists (8 total, 4 per Category): Two (2) Sponsor-selected movie tickets redeemable at participating movie theatres (ARV $24.00 each). Movie tickets are subject to restrictions and expiration dates may apply and are not redeemable for cash. Grand Prizes (2 total, 1 per Category): A 3-day/2-night trip for two people and the Grand Prize winner’s winning animal to a pet-friendly destination, including round trip coach air transportation from major airport nearest winner’s residence, two (2) nights hotel accommodations (double occupancy), ground transfers to/from airport/hotel in destination city, a Sponsor-selected pet-pampering session, Sponsor-selected pet products and for the winner only, $500.00 in spending money (awarded as a check) (ARV $4,350.00 each). Semi-Finalists will be notified at the e-mail address associated with the account used at time of registration. Semi-Finalists will be required to provide their mailing address in order to receive his/her prize. Potential Grand Prize Winners (or his/her parent or legal guardian if potential winner is a Minor) will be required to execute and return an affidavit of eligibility, assignment of rights and liability/publicity release (where legal) within ten (10) days of notification attempt or prize will be forfeited and an alternate Grand Prize Winner determined. If Grand Prize Winner is a “Minor,” meaning he/she is under the age of majority in his/her state of residence [which is eighteen (18) in most states but is nineteen (19) in Alabama and Nebraska and twenty-one (21) in Mississippi], then his/her parent or legal guardian must execute and return the affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release (where legal) on behalf of the Grand Prize Winner and must accompany the Grand Prize Winner on the trip. Return of any prize or prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and alternate determination. Exact ARV of each Grand Prize will depend upon time of travel and winner’s departure city and state. Each Grand Prize Winner and travel guest (and winning pet) must travel together on the same itinerary and must travel to and from the major airport closest to the winner’s residence. Grand Prize Winners’ travel guests must execute a Release of Liability prior to departure. If travel companion is a Minor, he/she may only travel with his/her parent or legal guardian (i.e., the winner). Flight details are subject to space availability and airline carrier’s regulations and conditions apply. Sponsor reserves the right to require the travelers to fly on certain days of the week, and/or at certain times of the day or night. The trips may not be combined with any other offer and travel may not qualify for frequent flyer miles. Grand Prize Winners and respective travel companions must possess valid travel documents (i.e., valid government-issued photo ID, etc.) in order to travel. Certain additional restrictions and blackout dates may apply. Airline tickets are non-refundable, non-transferable, and are not valid for upgrades. All other expenses not specified herein (including, but not limited to, taxes, meals, beverages, ground transportation not specified above, gasoline for rental car, and gratuities) are the sole responsibility of the winners. All travel must be completed within one (1) year of notification attempt, or prize will be forfeited. Taxes, if applicable, related to the prizes are the responsibility of the winners. No responsibility or liability is assumed for damages, losses or injury resulting from acceptance or use of any prize. Acceptance of any prize constitutes permission to use winners’ and winning pets’ names, likenesses and Entries (and any additional pet photos, as requested) for promotional and advertising purposes without further compensation or notice, except where prohibited by law.  ALL PRIZES ARE AWARDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE).  The total ARV of all prizes awarded in this Contest is Eight Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety Two Dollars $8,892.00 USD).  Sponsor is not responsible for and winners will not receive the difference between the actual value of the prizes at the time of award and the stated ARV in these Official Rules.

6.    GENERAL RULES: All prizes will be awarded, provided a sufficient number of eligible Entries are received. By participating in the Contest, Entrants agree to be bound by the Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor. Judges’ decisions are final on all matters relating to the Contest. All Entries will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of Entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. The Sponsor and its agencies are not responsible for technical, hardware, software or telephone malfunctions of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, garbled or delayed electronic communications caused by the user or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest or by any human error which may occur in the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the Contest if any aspect of this Contest (including the voting) becomes technically corrupted, and determine the winners from Entries/votes (as applicable) received prior to cancellation; and if the voting is cancelled, determine winners based on the judging criteria outlined above. The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the Entry/voting process or the operation of the Contest or Contest Website; violates the Official Rules; or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY PERSON TO DELIBERATELY UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW; AND, SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. Sponsor’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. The Sponsor’s prize providers and each party’s respective affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees will have no liability or responsibility for any claim arising in connection with participation in the Contest or any prize awarded. Winners assume all liability for any injury or damage caused, or claimed to be caused, by participation in the Contest or use or redemption of any prize.

7.    RELEASE: By submitting an Entry, you, or the parent or legal guardian of an Entrant who is a Minor, on his/her own behalf and that of the Minor, hereby grant the Sponsor, its affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, licensees, and legal representatives the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to use, reproduce, edit, market, store, distribute, have distributed, publicly and privately display, communicate, publicly and privately perform, transmit, have transmitted, create derivative works based upon, and promote the Entry (as such may be edited and modified by the Sponsor in its discretion) for editorial, commercial, promotional and all other purposes (including posting on any websites). In addition, you, or the parent or legal guardian of an Entrant who is a Minor, on his/her own behalf and that of the Minor, hereby assign to the Sponsor all rights, titles, and interests that you may be deemed to have in any reproduction, product, or derivative work using or incorporating the Entry. You, or the parent or legal guardian of an Entrant who is a Minor, on his/her own behalf and that of the Minor, represent and warrant that: (i) the Entry does not and shall not infringe on any copyright or trademark or any other third-party right nor violate any applicable law or regulation, (ii) you have the right to grant any and all necessary rights and licenses provided herein, including without limitation, all necessary copyright, trademark and other related rights to the Entry, free and clear of all claims and encumbrances without violating the rights of any person or entity, including any right to privacy or publicity. You, or the parent or legal guardian of an Entrant who is a Minor, on his/her own behalf and that of the Minor, waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Entry or to be compensated for any such uses. YOU, OR THE PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN OF AN ENTRANT WHO IS A MINOR, ON HIS/HER OWN BEHALF AND THAT OF THE MINOR, AND ALL PRIZE RECIPIENTS HEREBY RELEASE SPONSOR, WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC., AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE PARENTS, AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, DIVISIONS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, CO-BRANDERS OR OTHER PARTNERS, AND ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES (COLLECTIVELY, THE "CONTEST 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 CONTEST INDEMNITEES DUE TO OR ARISING OUT OF YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS CONTEST, OR USE OF YOUR NAME AND YOUR SUBMITTED PET’S NAME, LIKENESS OR ENTRY, OR ANY OTHER RIGHTS GRANTED TO SPONSOR, INCLUDING ANY CLAIMS FOR INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO TRADEMARK, COPYRIGHT, OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, RIGHT OF PUBLICITY, RIGHT OF PRIVACY OR DEFAMATION. YOU FURTHER AGREE TO RELEASE AND INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS CONTEST INDEMNITEES FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS THAT ANY COMMERCIAL, ADVERTISING, PRESENTATION, WEB CONTENT OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL SUBSEQUENTLY PRODUCED, PRESENTED, AND/OR PREPARED BY OR ON BEHALF OF CONTEST INDEMNITEES INFRINGES ON YOUR RIGHTS AS CONTAINED IN THE CONTEST ENTRY SUBMISSION. You, or the parent or legal guardian of an Entrant who is a Minor, on his/her own behalf and that of the Minor, hereby represent and warrant that you have read these Official Rules, are fully familiar with its contents and agree to be bound by them.

8.    DISPUTES:  Except where prohibited, entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, entrant’s rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the Commonwealth of Virginia or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth of Virginia.
9.   WINNERS: For the list of winners, available after August 2, 2010, or a copy of these Official Rules, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Paw Nation Battle of the Cute Pets Contest Winners, 100 Marcus Drive (Dept JT), Melville, NY 11747, no later than September 2, 2010. Vermont residents may omit return postage for Official Rules requests.
10.  SPONSOR: The Sponsor of the Contest is AOL Inc., 770 Broadway, New York, NY  10003.  Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries are not responsible for the promotion, administration, or execution of this Sweepstakes.

 
 

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