Submission rules for all contest types:

• Only one submission is permitted per person.  If it is discovered that a member has created multiple accounts or otherwise submitted multiple times to a contest the responses will be disqualified.
• If you collaborate on your contest response only one response may be submitted per team. If it is discovered that multiple responses have been submitted they will be disqualified.
• Submit your entry in English or provide a brief translation of relevant information. The Patexia team has no obligation to grade responses we cannot access due to language or other barriers.
• As per the Patexia terms of use, do not submit any confidential documents, or any information you do not have the right to share.
• Contest grading is based on Patexia’s research questions, and does not constitute a legal opinion on patent validity or related litigation.
• When grading responses, the ultimate arbiter is the original text of the patents at issue and guidance from the contest sponsor.
• By submitting to a contest you are agreeing to abide by our Terms of Service.

Patexia certifies we will abide by the following:

• Patexia will never charge any fees to process your payments. Prize money is transferred by Paypal and they will deduct a transfer fee from your prize payment. Their fee structure is described here.
• Patexia will never change the rules during a contest. If we do modify them, we will always post on the contest’s description page before the contest begins.
• Prizes will be distributed with 60 days of sending the contest results email.
• If your payment settings are incomplete or we are for other reasons unable to send your prize within 90 days of your prize’s announcement date, your prize will expire.

Please do…

• … make one submission per team. Just you? That’s a team. Just you and 10 of your friends? Also a team.
• … submit your entry in English or provide a brief translation of relevant information. Please. Por favor. 拜托了.  कृपया.
• … read the Contest description and the quoted claims. We’ll tell you all sorts of helpful stuff.
• … explain why you said “Yes” to help us understand your reasoning. A quote (one or two sentences from the reference), a citation (where to find it), and a quick explanation is all we need!
• … upload the original document. You found the file; might as well enjoy the benefits.
• … ask questions on the “Discussions” page of the Contest or via email at contest@patexia.com.
• … make sure your payment settings are all set to go and everything is in order, including a W9 or W8-BEN. If we’re not able to get ahold of you to send your prize within 90 days of your prize’s announcement date, your prize will expire.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a reference that has nothing to do with the subject. Not cool. Sad face.
• … don’t submit something that can’t be used, such as confidential documents or “general knowledge” that isn’t published.
• … don’t assume our winner selection is a legal opinion. We grade based on Patexia’s research questions, and it doesn’t constitute a legal opinion on patent validity or related litigation.
• … don’t violate our Terms of Service.

Patexia will…

• … grade each submission based on your explanation, our reading, and our technical understanding.
• … give you the points assigned to the question and add them to your score if we agree with your “Yes” answer.
• … reference the original text of the Contest patents when we get an answer we’re iffy about.
• … only extend a deadline to give you more time. We will never close a Contest early.
• … never charge any fees to process your payments. We transfer prize money by Paypal and they will deduct a transfer fee from your prize payment. Their fee structure is described here.
• … want to hear your feedback on our rules, but we will never change them during a Contest. If we do modify them, we will always post on the Contest’s description page before we start.

Please do…

• … make one submission per team. Just you? That’s a team. Just you and 10 of your friends? Also a team.
• … submit your entry in English or provide a brief translation of relevant information. Please. Por favor. 拜托了.  कृपया.
• … read the Contest description and the quoted claims. We’ll tell you all sorts of helpful stuff.
• … explain why you said “Yes” to help us understand your reasoning. A quote (one or two sentences from the reference), a citation (where to find it), and a quick explanation is all we need!
• … upload the original document. You found the file; might as well enjoy the benefits.
• … ask questions on the “Discussions” page of the Contest or via email at contest@patexia.com.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a reference that has nothing to do with the subject. Not cool. Sad face.
• … don’t submit something that can’t be used, such as confidential documents or “general knowledge” that isn’t published.
• … don’t assume our winner selection is a legal opinion. We grade based on Patexia’s research questions, and it doesn’t constitute a legal opinion on patent validity or related litigation.
• … don’t violate our Terms of Service.

Patexia will…

• … grade each submission based on your explanation, our reading, and our technical understanding.
• … give you the points assigned to the question and add them to your score if we agree with your “Yes” answer.
• … reference the original text of the Contest patents when we get an answer we’re iffy about.
• … only extend a deadline to give you more time. We will never close a Contest early.
• … never charge any fees to process your payments. We transfer prize money by Paypal and they will deduct a transfer fee from your prize payment. Their fee structure is described here.
• … want to hear your feedback on our rules, but we will never change them during a Contest. If we do modify them, we will always post on the Contest’s description page before we start.

Contest Entries

• The submission deadline posted for each contest is final.
• Contest start and close times are based on the Pacific Time Zone (US).
• Submissions may be reopened by Patexia staff upon user request so long as the submission reopen and resubmission is completed before the submission deadline.
• All explanations must be in English.
• When submitting a foreign reference, a translation of the reference in English must be provided with enough text to allow an explanation to be understood in context.
• If possible, please upload digital copies of all references as part of a submission. Acceptable formats include .pdf, .doc, .docx, or .odt.
• If not possible, Patexia will attempt to retrieve the document using the included citation, but may disqualify the submission if the reference cannot be retrieved at all or from a reputable source.
• Only one (1) submission allowed per team. Team may include one (1) individual or a group of people. Duplicate entries with similar or identical analysis will be flagged and disqualified.
• All entries must adhere to Patexia’s submission and style guidelines to be fully eligible for all points.

Questions and Feedback

• Please use “Discussions” to post general questions or feedback about the contest to the community.
• For specific questions, contact us directly by email at contests@patexia.com.

Prize Distribution

• Prizes will be transferred to users within 60 business days of the contest close date and delivered  via PayPal Mass Payments .
• Winners and runner ups are responsible for PayPal’s transfer fees, which will be deducted from the transferred prize. Patexia will charge no additional fees. PayPal’s fee may be reviewed at https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/mass-payments.

Additional Notes

• Additions or modifications to these contest rules may be added at the start of a contest and will be disclosed on the contest page.
• Any rules on the contest page will supersede any rules outlined here in the overall contest rules.
• All submissions are subject to Patexia's Terms of Service. Failure to follow these rules may lead to disqualification from the contest.
• Winner selection is based entirely on community responses to Patexia's research questions and does not constitute a legal opinion on patent validity or related litigation.

Contest Entries

• The submission deadline posted for each contest is final.
• Contest start and close times are based on the Pacific Time Zone (US).
• Submissions may be reopened by Patexia staff upon user request so long as the submission reopen and resubmission is completed before the submission deadline.
• All explanations must be in English.
• When submitting a foreign reference, a translation of the reference in English must be provided with enough text to allow an explanation to be understood in context.
• If possible, please upload digital copies of all references as part of a submission. Acceptable formats include .pdf, .doc, .docx, or .odt.
• If not possible, Patexia will attempt to retrieve the document using the included citation, but may disqualify the submission if the reference cannot be retrieved at all or from a reputable source.
• Only one (1) submission allowed per team. Team may include one (1) individual or a group of people. Duplicate entries with similar or identical analysis will be flagged and disqualified.
• All entries must adhere to Patexia’s submission and style guidelines to be fully eligible for all points.

Questions and Feedback

• Please use “Ask a Question” to post general questions or feedback about the contest to the community.
• For specific questions, contact us directly by email at contests@patexia.com.

Prize Distribution

• The submission(s) with the highest score(s) (“winners”) will be awarded 80% of the overall prize pool and may include one (1) submission or up to a maximum of four (4) submissions that equally split the 80% of the overall prize pool between each other.
• If the submission(s) with the highest score(s) was referred by another user (the referrer) using Patexia’s website, 10% of the winner’s prize will be subtracted and given to the referrer.
• The submission(s) with the next highest score(s) (“runner ups”) will be awarded an equal share of 20% of the overall prize pool and may include up to a maximum of 10 users or a lesser number that allows each share to be at least $100.
• Prizes will be transferred to users within 60 business days of the contest close date and delivered  via PayPal Mass Payments .
• Winners and runner ups are responsible for PayPal’s transfer fees, which will be deducted from the transferred prize. Patexia will charge no additional fees. PayPal’s fee may be reviewed at https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/mass-payments.

Additional Notes

• Additions or modifications to these contest rules may be added at the start of a contest and will be disclosed on the contest page.
• Any rules on the contest page will supersede any rules outlined here in the overall contest rules.
• All submissions are subject to Patexia's Terms of Service. Failure to follow these rules may lead to disqualification from the contest.
• Winner selection is based entirely on community responses to Patexia's research questions and does not constitute a legal opinion on patent validity or related litigation.

Submission Rules:

• Submit only your best reference. Your submission’s final score will be the average of all of your reference scores.
• Submitting one reference might not always be possible, so you are allowed to attach a supporting reference. Supporting references must include an explicit statement that the current reference is a supporting reference and a clear citation of the primary reference it is attached to.  It must also include an explanation on why the primary reference is insufficient to answer the contest, and why the supporting reference is necessary to complete your submission.  Supporting references will not be averaged into your final score.
• For help narrowing down your references take a look at this infographic.
• Submit only references filed/published before the given date.  For help take a look at our priority date guide.
• Don’t submit references included in the  “Known Reference” list (including similar documents such as patents in the same family or earlier drafts of a technical standard) or patents in the same family as the contest patent(s). Known References will not be scored.

Scoring:

• Your submission will be scored on a 100-point scale based on the average of your references’ scores.
• Your submission will be scored based on the grading rubric included with the contest description.
• Properly cited supporting references will not be included in your averaged score.
• In case of a tie with a contest prize at stake the tie will be broken by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation in a submission;
• b) the type of reference submitted, favoring in order: product documents > articles or other non-patent publications > foreign patents > US patents;
• c) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

Prize Distribution:

• The highest scoring submission (after any tiebreakers) will be a "winner" and will receive 60% of the overall prize pool.
• The next two highest scoring submissions (after any tiebreakers) will be a "winner" and will each receive 10% of the overall prize pool.
• The next highest scoring submissions (after any tiebreakers) will be a "runner up" and will each receive an equal share of 20% of the overall prize pool until either: a maximum of 10 runners up, a minimum prize of $100, or the median of non-zero scores is reached.
• A user who referred a "winner" using our referral tool will receive 10% of the winner’s prize.

Please do…

• … submit a reference that is filed/published before the given date. After all, it’s called “prior art.”
• … submit only your best reference. Submitting multiple references, unless they’re supporting, will undermine your argument.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a reference that is on the “Known Reference” list including similar documents such as patents in the same family or earlier drafts of a technical standard.

Patexia will…

• … score your submission on a 100-point scale based on the average of your references’ scores.
• … not count supporting reference or references you ask us to remove against your averaged score.

To break a tie…

• When $ is at stake, we will break a tie by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation in a submission;
• b) the type of reference submitted, favoring product documents > articles or other non-patent publications > foreign patents > US patents;
• c) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

In order to win a Prior Art Search Contest, the single contest prize pool distribution will be used...

• The highest scoring submission (after any tiebreakers) will be a "winner" and will receive 60% of the overall prize pool.
• The next two highest scoring submissions (after any tiebreakers) will be a "winner" and will each receive 10% of the overall prize pool.
• The next highest scoring submissions (after any tiebreakers) will be a "runner up" and will each receive an equal share of 20% of the overall prize pool until either: a maximum of 10, a minimum prize of $100, or the median of non-zero scores is reached.
• A user who referred a "winner" using our referral tool will receive 10% of the winner’s prize.

Please do…

• … submit a reference that is filed/published before the given date. After all, it’s called “prior art.”
• … submit only your best reference. Submitting multiple references, unless they’re supporting, will undermine your argument.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a reference that is on the “Known Reference” list including similar documents such as patents in the same family or earlier drafts of a technical standard.

Patexia will…

• … score your submission on a 100-point scale based on the average of your references’ scores.
• … not count supporting reference or references you ask us to remove against your averaged score.

To break a tie…

• When $ is at stake, we will break a tie by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation in a submission;
• b) the type of reference submitted, favoring product documents > articles or other non-patent publications > foreign patents > US patents;
• c) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

In order to win a Prior Art Search Contest, the single contest prize pool distribution will be used...

• A “winner” is the submission with the highest score (after any tiebreakers) and will get 80% of the overall prize pool.
• A “runner up” is a submissions with the next highest scores (after any tiebreakers) and will get an equal share of 20% of the overall prize pool.
• Patexia will keep awarding runners up until either: the median score of all non-zero scores is reached, a maximum of 10 runners up are awarded, or the runners up minimum prize share is $100.
• A “referral” is a user who referred the winner using our referral tool and is entitled to 10% of the winner’s prize. We’ll subtract this amount from the winner’s prize. Friends like to share, right?

Contest Questions and Scoring

• All questions must be answered (Yes or No) based on your uploaded reference(s).
• All answers must include a clear explanation of how each reference directly answers the questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines.
• A submission’s score will be between 0 to 100 and will be calculated as the average of the verified relevancy score of all uploaded references, unless:
  • a reference is uploaded as an attachment in support of a main reference
  • a reference has been removed (but not disqualified) from consideration either due to user request or Patexia’s determination
• The verified relevancy  score of each uploaded reference is determined in the following manner:
  • the reference will be checked for any disqualification criteria as defined below
  • each “Yes” answer explanation will be reviewed and verified by Patexia based on the contents of the explanation, a reading of the provided quote in context in the reference, and Patexia’s technical understanding of the background material and original prompt
  • all verified “Yes” answers will be given in full the point values assigned to their respective questions
  • the verified relevancy score will be the sum of the points of all verified “Yes” answers
• Any issues with interpretation of a contest questions will be resolved using the original text of the patent(s) from the contest design.
• A reference may be disqualified from consideration and automatically receive a relevancy score of “0” if:
  • the uploaded references matches a Known Reference cited in the contest description, including, but not limited to, patents that are in the same patent family and documents that have a shared publication history such as earlier/later revisions/drafts of a known reference
  • the uploaded reference does not meet the qualification criteria as defined in the contest questions including, but not limited to, the required date of filing or publication
  • the uploaded reference is determined to be completely irrelevant to the contest (e.g. a document that does not discuss the subject matter in the contest)
  • no reference was uploaded with the submission and Patexia is unable to download a copy based on information provided in the reference citation
  • the submission does not provide a substantial explanation of the answered questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
  • the reference is not prior art based on United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rules as defined by US law and described in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)
• The final contest rankings will be based on the the submission’s score and the final score may be modified while maintaining overall ranking by Patexia based on the following tie-breakers by decreasing importance:
  • explanation quality as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
  • quality of the reference with preference by decreasing importance:
    • product documentation (including datasheets and manuals)
    • non-patent literature (including academic papers and news articles)
    • foreign patents (including WIPO patents)
    • US patents
  • date of submission with earlier submissions being preferred

Prize Distribution

• The submission(s) with the highest score(s) (“winners”) will be awarded 80% of the overall prize pool and may include one (1) submission or up to a maximum of four (4) submissions that equally split the 80% of the overall prize pool.
• If the submission(s) designated as a “winner” was referred by another user (the referrer) using Patexia’s website, 10% of the winner’s prize will be subtracted and given to the referrer.
• The submission(s) with the next highest score(s) (“runner ups”) will be awarded an equal share of 20% of the overall prize pool and will be designated by descending score order until either the median score calculated by all non-zero scores, a maximum of 10 submissions, or a minimum prize amount of $100 is reached.

Contest Questions and Scoring

• All questions must be answered (Yes or No) based on your uploaded reference(s).
• All answers must include a clear explanation of how each reference directly answers the questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines.
• A submission’s score will be between 0 to 100 and will be calculated as the average of the verified relevancy score of all uploaded references, unless:
  • a reference is uploaded as an attachment in support of a main reference
  • a reference has been removed (but not disqualified) from consideration either due to user request or Patexia’s determination
• The verified relevancy  score of each uploaded reference is determined in the following manner:
  • the reference will be checked for any disqualification criteria as defined below
  • each “Yes” answer explanation will be reviewed and verified by Patexia based on the contents of the explanation, a reading of the provided quote in context in the reference, and Patexia’s technical understanding of the background material and original prompt
  • all verified “Yes” answers will be given in full the point values assigned to their respective questions
  • the verified relevancy score will be the sum of the points of all verified “Yes” answers
• A reference may be disqualified from consideration and automatically receive a relevancy score of “0” if:
  • the uploaded references matches a Known Reference cited in the contest description, including, but not limited to, patents that are in the same patent family
  • the uploaded reference does not meet the qualification criteria as defined in the contest questions including, but not limited to, the required date of filing or publication
  • the uploaded reference is determined to be completely irrelevant to the contest (e.g. a document that does not discuss the subject matter in the contest)
  • no reference was uploaded with the submission and Patexia is unable to download a copy based on information provided in the reference citation
  • the submission does not provide a substantial explanation of the answered questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
• The final contest rankings will be based on the the submission’s score and may be modified by Patexia based on the following tie-breakers by decreasing importance:
  • explanation quality as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
  • quality of the reference with preference by decreasing importance:
    • product documentation (including datasheets and manuals)
    • non-patent literature (including academic papers and news articles)
    • foreign patents (including WIPO patents)
    • US patents
  • date of submission with earlier submissions being preferred

Submission Rules:

• Submit a product from after the given date. The more recent, the better.
• Submit as many products from as many companies as you can find.
• Similar products from one company will be considered as one product.
• Don’t submit a product that is on the “Known Reference” list. It will not be scored.

Scoring:

• The final list of selected products will be based on the results from the entire crowd and will be separated by company.
• For each company your products will be scored on a 100-point scale to determine the winners
• In case of a tie with a contest prize at stake the tie will be broken by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation with a submission;
• b) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

Prize Distribution:

• 90% of the overall prize pool will be allocated and divided evenly between companies.
• For each company the highest scoring submissions (after any tiebreakers) will be awarded an equal share of the portion of prize allocated to that company until either: a minimum prize of $100, or the median of non-zero scores is reached.
• The user submission with the greatest number of awarded company prizes will be a "winner" and will receive the remaining 10% of the overall prize pool.
• Any submission with at least one awarded company prize will be a"runner up".
• A user who referred a "winner" using our referral tool will receive 10% of the winner’s prize.

Please do…

• … submit a product from after the given date. The more recent, the better!
• … submit many products from many companies. Similar products from one company will be considered as one product.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a product that is on the “Known Reference” list.

Patexia will…

• … generate a final list of selected products based on the results from the entire crowd, then separate each into individual sub-contests. Submissions with these products will be placed in these sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest, we will score your sub-contest products on a 100-point scale.

To break a tie…

• When $ is at stake, we will break a tie by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation with a submission;
• b) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

In order to win an Evidence of Use Contest, the multiple sub-contest prize pool distribution will be used…

• 90% of the prize money will be allocated and divided between the sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest:
• a) the submission with the highest score (after any tiebreakers) will be qualified as a “winner” and will receive 80% of the allocated money for that sub-contest
• b) the submissions with the next highest scores (after any tiebreakers) will be qualified as a “runner up” and will receive an equal share of 20% of the allocated prize money for that sub-contest.
• c) Patexia will keep awarding runners up until either: the median score of all non-zero scores in the sub-contest is reached, or the runners up minimum prize share is $100.
• A “winner” is any user who has qualified as a “winner” in at least one sub-contest.
• A “runner up” is any user who has qualified as a “runner up” in at least one sub-contest, but has not qualified as a “winner”.
• 10% of the prize money will be awarded to the user who has qualified for the most “winner” and “runner up” sub-contests.
• A “referral” is a user who referred the winner using our referral tool and is entitled to 10% of the winner’s prize. We’ll subtract this amount from the winner’s prize. Friends like to share, right?

Contest Questions and Scoring

• All questions must be answered (Yes or No) based on your uploaded reference(s).
• All answers must include a clear explanation of how each reference directly answers the questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines.
• A submission’s score will be between 0 to 100 and will be calculated based on the maximum of the verified relevancy score of all products, and be subject to the following rules:
  • a product is considered defined by all the reference uploaded that cite the product
  • a product and/or reference may be removed (but not disqualified) from consideration either due to user request or Patexia’s determination
• Verified products are determined in the following manner:
  • the product and reference(s) will be checked for any disqualification criteria as defined below
  • each identified product will be checked to ensure that it is unique based on its targeted market, its seller, its manufacturer, and the smallest functional unit applicable to the invention in the contest as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines for Evidence of Use contests
  • each product will be marked as verified if it is not disqualified and receives verified “Yes” answers for all mandatory criteria
• The verified relevancy score of each product is determined in the following manner:
  • each “Yes” answer explanation will be reviewed and verified by Patexia based on the contents of the explanation, a reading of the provided quote in context in the reference, a confirmation of the technical workings of the feature described in the question, and Patexia’s technical understanding of the background material and original prompt
  • all verified “Yes” answers will be given in full the point values assigned to their respective questions
  • the verified relevancy score of the verified product will be the sum of the points of all verified “Yes” answers in all cited references of the user
• Any issues with interpretation of a contest questions will be resolved using the original text of the patent(s) from the contest design.
• A product and/or reference attached to a product may be disqualified from consideration and automatically be removed from consideration if:
  • the product matches a known product cited in the contest description, including, but not limited to, similar products sold or manufactured by the companies cited under known products
  • the reference is determined to describe a product that is substantially different from the product it is attached to
  • the product and/or reference is determined to be completely irrelevant to the contest (e.g. a document that does not discuss the subject matter in the contest)
  • no reference was uploaded with the submission and Patexia is unable to download a copy based on information provided in the reference citation
  • the submission does not provide a substantial explanation of the answered questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
• The final contest rankings will be based on the the submission’s score and the final score may be modified while maintaining overall ranking by Patexia based on the following tie-breakers by decreasing importance:
  • explanation quality as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
  • date of submission with earlier submissions being preferred

Prize Distribution

• The verified product(s) with the highest score(s) will be allocated a portion of 90% of the overall prize pool.
• For each verified product with an allocated prize portion:
  • The submission(s) that include the verified product will be ranked by their product’s verified relevancy score.
  • The submission(s) with the highest ranking(s) (“winners”) will be awarded 80% of the verified product’s allocated portion of the overall prize pool and may include additional submissions that equally split the portion so long as the amount awarded is greater than the “runner up” prize amount.
  • The submission(s) with the next highest ranking(s) (“runner ups”) will be awarded an equal share of 20% of the verified product’s allocated portion of the overall prize pool and will be designated by descending rank order until either the median score calculated by all non-zero scores of that product or a minimum prize amount of $100 is reached.
• The submission(s) with the highest number of winner and/or runner up designated products will be awarded 10% of the overall prize pool and may include one (1) submission or up to a maximum of two (2) submissions that equally split the 10% of the overall prize pool.
• Submissions with multiple products will receive the outcome designation (e.g. winner or runner-up) of their highest awarded product and will be awarded the sum of all prize amounts allocated to them.
• If the submission(s) designated as a “winner” was referred by another user (the referrer) using Patexia’s website, 10% of the winner’s prize will be subtracted and given to the referrer.

Contest Questions and Scoring

• All questions must be answered (Yes or No) based on your uploaded reference(s).
• All answers must include a clear explanation of how each reference directly answers the questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines.
• A submission’s score will be between 0 to 100 and will be the normalized sum of all verified products in the submission, and calculated in the following manner:
  • Each product in the submission will be designated as verified if it has satisfied all of the mandatory contest questions based on the collective body of verified references attached to that product.
  • Each verified product in the submission will be assigned the full total amount of points allocated to it and awarded additional points as assigned by verified answers to optional bonus questions.
  • The submission’s raw score is the sum of all the points assigned to the total number of verified products.
  • The submission across the entire contest with the highest raw score will be set to 100, and all other submissions will be normalized based on the body of raw scores.
• Verified products are determined in the following manner:
  • the reference will be checked for any disqualification criteria
  • each identified product will be checked to ensure that it is unique based on its targeted market, its seller, its manufacturer, and the smallest functional unit applicable to the invention in the contest as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines for Evidence of Use contests
  • each “Yes” answer explanation will be reviewed and verified by Patexia based on the contents of the explanation, a reading of the provided quote in context in the reference, and Patexia’s technical understanding of the background material and original prompt
  • a product will be considered verified if it has received a verified “Yes” answer for all contest questions
• A product and/or reference attached to a product may be disqualified from consideration and automatically be removed from consideration if:
  • the product matches a known product cited in the contest description, including, but not limited to, similar products sold or manufactured by the companies cited under known products
  • the reference is determined to describe a product that is substantially different from the product it is attached to
  • the product and/or reference is determined to be completely irrelevant to the contest (e.g. a document that does not discuss the subject matter in the contest)
  • no reference was uploaded with the submission and Patexia is unable to download a copy based on information provided in the reference citation
  • the submission does not provide a substantial explanation of the answered questions as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
• The final contest rankings will be based on the the submission’s score and may be modified by Patexia based on the following tie-breakers by decreasing importance:
  • explanation quality as outlined in Patexia’s submission and style guidelines
  • date of submission with earlier submissions being preferred

Submission Rules:

• Submit only patents.
• Submit only patents filed within the given date range.  For help take a look at our priority date guide
• Verify that your patent has a fee status of “Paid”. Try Google Patents for a quick check.
• Submit as many patents from as many assignees as you can find. Your final score will be based on each assignee.
• Use only patent claims in support of your answers.
• Don’t submit a patent that is on the “Known Reference” list (including patents in the same family). It will not be scored.

Scoring:

• The final list of selected assignees will be based on the results from the entire crowd including the number of qualified patents, and will be separated by assignee.
• For each assignee your patents will be scored on a 100-point scale to determine the winners.
• In case of a tie with a contest prize at stake the tie will be broken by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation with a submission;
• b) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

Prize Distribution:

• 90% of the overall prize pool will be allocated and divided evenly between assignees.
• For each assignee the highest scoring submissions (after any tiebreakers) will be awarded an equal share of the portion of prize allocated to that assignee until either: a minimum prize of $100, or the median of non-zero scores is reached.
• The submission with the most number of awarded company prizes will be a “winner”  and will receive the remaining 10% of the overall prize pool.
• Any submission with at least one awarded company prize will be a “runner up”.
• A user who referred a "winner" using our referral tool will receive 10% of the winner’s prize.

Please do…

• … submit only patents. It’s like discovering water when you’re drilling for oil. It’s nice, but not quite the point.
• … submit a patent filed within the given date range. Nobody likes expired milk. Expired patents are even worse.
• … check that your patent has a fee status of “Paid”. Try Google Patents for a quick check.
• … submit many patents from many assignees. Your final score will be based on each assignee.
• … use only the patent’s claims in support of your answers.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a patent that is on the “Known Reference” list including patents in the same family.

Patexia will…

• … generate a final list of selected assignees based on the results from the entire crowd including the number of qualified patents, then separate each into individual sub-contests. Submissions with patents from these assignees will be placed in these sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest, we will score your sub-contest patents on a 100-point scale.

To break a tie…

• When $ is at stake, we will break a tie by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation with a submission;
• b) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

In order to win a Patent Mining Contest, the multiple sub-contest prize pool distribution will be used…

• 90% of the prize money will be allocated and divided between the sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest:
• a) the submissions with the highest grades (after any tiebreakers) will be qualified as a “eligible” and will receive an equal share of the allocated prize money for that sub-contest.
• b) Patexia will keep awarding eligible users until either: the median grade of all non-zero grade in the sub-contest is reached,, or the runners up minimum prize share is $100.
• A “winner” is the user who has received the most eligible qualifications the sub-contests.
• A “runner up” is any user who has been qualified as eligible in at least one sub-contest.
• 10% of the prize money will be awarded to the “winner”.
• A “referral” is a user who referred the winner using our referral tool and is entitled to 10% of the winner’s prize. We’ll subtract this amount from the winner’s prize. Friends like to share, right?

Please do…

• … submit only patents. It’s like discovering water when you’re drilling for oil. It’s nice, but not quite the point.
• … submit a patent filed within the given date range. Nobody likes expired milk. Expired patents are even worse.
• … check that your patent has a fee status of “Paid”. Try Google Patents for a quick check.
• … submit many patents from many assignees. Your final score will be based on each assignee.
• … use only the patent’s claims in support of your answers.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit a patent that is on the “Known Reference” list including patents in the same family.

Patexia will…

• … generate a final list of selected assignees based on the results from the entire crowd, then separate each into individual sub-contests. Submissions with patents from these assignees will be placed in these sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest, we will score your sub-contest patents on a 100-point scale.

To break a tie…

• When $ is at stake, we will break a tie by modifying the scores while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the inclusion of a citation, quote, and explanation with a submission;
• b) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

In order to win a Patent Mining Contest, the multiple sub-contest prize pool distribution will be used…

• 90% of the prize money will be allocated and divided between the sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest:
• a) the submission with the highest score (after any tiebreakers) will be qualified as a “winner” and will receive 80% of the allocated money for that sub-contest
• b) the submissions with the next highest scores (after any tiebreakers) will be qualified as a “runner up” and will receive an equal share of 20% of the allocated prize money for that sub-contest.
• c) Patexia will keep awarding runners up until either: the median score of all non-zero scores in the sub-contest is reached, or the runners up minimum prize share is $100.
• A “winner” is any user who has qualified as a “winner” in at least one sub-contest.
• A “runner up” is any user who has qualified as a “runner up” in at least one sub-contest, but has not qualified as a “winner”.
• 10% of the prize money will be awarded to the user who has qualified the most “winner” and “runner up” sub-contests.
• A “referral” is a user who referred the winner using our referral tool and is entitled to 10% of the winner’s prize. We’ll subtract this amount from the winner’s prize. Friends like to share, right?

Submission Rules:

• In order to have your submission scored you must submit a response to every qualifying and survey question to demonstrates your expertise and experience in the subject matter.
• Submit your educated and evidence based opinion.
• Submit as few or as many references as you think are needed for us to understand and/or fact check your opinion.
• Don’t submit an opinion without any explanation.

Scoring:

• Qualifying questions are used to assess response validity but are not scored, and do not have a prize attached.
• Each submission will be categorized as either “Qualified” or “Not Qualified” and receive a corresponding score of 100 or 0 on a 100-point scale.

Prize Distribution:

• The overall prize pool will be allocated and divided between the substantive questions as described in the Contest description.
• For each substantive question qualified submissions will be awarded an equal share of the portion of prize allocated to that question on a first come, first serve basis until the minimum prize as described in the Contest description is reached.
• Any qualified submission with at least one awarded question prize will be a “winner”.
• Any qualified submission that was submitted after all prizes have been awarded will still be a “runner up”.
• A user who referred a "winner" using our referral tool will receive 10% of the winner’s prize.

Please do…

• … submit a response to every qualifying and survey question that demonstrates your expertise and experience in the subject matter. Think of it as an interview!
• … submit your educated opinion. We’ll be asking open-ended questions.
• … submit as few or as many references as you think are needed to understand and/or fact check your opinion.

Please don’t…

• … don’t submit an opinion without any explanation. Everyone has an opinion. Help convince us that yours is the right one.

Patexia will…

• … separate each market conesus question into individual sub-contests. Each submitted answer to these question will be placed in these sub-contests.
• In each sub-contest, we will score your sub-contest on a 4-category grade (i.e. Low, Medium-Low, Medium-High, High) based on the answer’s persuasiveness that the answer represents the best interpretation of the question based on the answer’s explanation, the user’s answer to the qualifying questions, and the user’s background described in the survey questions.

To break a tie…

• When $ is at stake, we will break a tie by modifying the grade while keeping the overall ranking, based on:
• a) the ability of the submitted answer to support the accuracy of the opinion based on the explanation’s logic or reference citations;
• b) the date of submission, favoring earlier entries.

In order to win a Market Research Contest, the multiple sub-contest prize pool distribution will be used…

• The prize money will be allocated and divided between the sub-contests as described in the Contest description.
• In each sub-contest:
• a) the submissions with the highest grades (after any tiebreakers) will be qualified as a “eligible” and will receive an equal share of the allocated prize money for that sub-contest.
• b) Patexia will keep awarding eligible users until either: the median grade of all non-zero grade in the sub-contest is reached, or a maximum of 10 eligible users are qualified.
• A “winner” is any user who has received the most eligible qualifications the sub-contests.
• A “runner up” is any user who has been qualified as eligible in at least one sub-contest.
• A “referral” is a user who referred the winner using our referral tool and is entitled to 10% of the winner’s prize. We’ll subtract this amount from the winner’s prize. Friends like to share, right?