Running an online contest

[paphus]

My company is interested in holding a type of contest online to have developers develop demo bots for our platform.

I looked into the legal requirements to hold a contest, and they seem very complex given each state/country has their own legal requirements, so holding a contest online does not seem possible unless you limit it to a state/country, or risk it?

But I see there are websites such as Freelancer that support online contests,

https://www.freelancer.ca/contest

Does this depend on how you define a "contest", and if we created a "contest" on Freelancer could we promote this contest on our website, and not have to worry about any legal contest requirements of every state/country in the world?

 

[adjusterjack]

There are three key questions you have to answer.

What do the contestants have to give to enter the contest?

What does a contestant get if he wins the contest?

What do you (as promoter) get out of this contest when all is said and done?

 

[Zigner]

The FIRST "key question" is what is the name of your US state? This forum only deals with US matters.

 

[FlyingRon]

What state are you in? Your strawman site is located in Canada. Canada law is different from the US and is outside the scope of this forum.

 

[paphus]

What state are you in? Your strawman site is located in Canada. Canada law is different from the US and is outside the scope of this forum.

That was kind of the point of the post, there is no "state" on the Internet, it is a global industry.
We are located in Canada, but does it really matter where we are located, or where the people who are allowed to enter the contest are located?

The contest would be to have developers develop a bot on our Internet bot platform.

The developers would need to register on freelancer.com and submit their bot to the freelance.com contest.
The bot we select on freelancer.com would be given $500.

We would get the source code to their bot, and the marketing exposure for having developers use our platform.

We would want the contest open to developers from anywhere in the world.
We would advertise the contest on our website, and in social media.

 

[quincy]

That was kind of the point of the post, there is no "state" on the Internet, it is a global industry.
We are located in Canada, but does it really matter where we are located, or where the people who are allowed to enter the contest are located?

The contest would be to have developers develop a bot on our Internet bot platform.

The developers would need to register on freelancer.com and submit their bot to the freelance.com contest.
The bot we select on freelancer.com would be given $500.

We would get the source code to their bot, and the marketing exposure for having developers use our platform.

We would want the contest open to developers from anywhere in the world.
We would advertise the contest on our website, and in social media.

Although the internet is global, you still must consider the laws of all countries when operating an international contest. Canadian laws, however, can be used to govern the contest.

Your contest's terms and conditions must specify who is eligible to enter the contest. Eligibility will be contingent on the laws of an applicant's country. What is legal for an applicant in Canada, in other words, might not be legal for an applicant in another country.

In addition, any contest must comply with international laws (e.g., IP laws). I have some concern with your idea to obtain source code for bots. Source codes are copyright-protected and the rights to these source codes must be transferred specifically in writing by the creator/copyright holder. You do not have rights to these codes without a written and signed transfer of these rights, even if you pay the creator $500. Compensation would be only part of the equation.

You also need to make sure that, if you are labeling your contest a "contest," it actually is a contest. A contest is judged on skill alone (although there can be an entry fee) whereas a sweepstakes will be a random selection of a winner with no fee required, and gambling is paying for a chance to win and will be illegal under many countries' laws.

I recommend you sit down with a professional in your country to go over the plans for your contest before promoting it on the internet.