2.2 Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure

Contestants may desire to keep their executive summaries confidential. All judges and organizers will be under an obligation to protect and safeguard those documents labeled CONFIDENTIAL by contestants.

The first round of judging will be done privately, with the judges under a verbal non-disclosure agreement.

The final presentations on [May 13, 2008 date subject to change] will be open to the public; therefore, contestants are advised not to disclose any proprietary information in the judging rounds.

The policy for protecting confidential information will be posted on the MITEF Ignite Clean Energy website and emailed to all registered contestants before the Kick-off event on [December 11]. The confidentiality provisions will extend six-months after the public announcement of the winners on [May 13, 2008 date subject to change].

The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, the sponsors, judges, and organizers will not take further responsibility to protect CONFIDENTIAL information or the intellectual property rights of the contestants.

2008 Ignite Clean Energy Business Competition

Terms of Confidentiality

 

Competition judges and certain organizers will accept and review contestants’ executive summaries subject to the following Terms of Confidentiality. In addition, competition judges and certain organizers will orally agree to these Terms of Confidentiality prior to hearing contestants’ oral presentations.

 For the benefit of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Enterprise Forum (the “Forum”), the MIT Energy Special Interest Group (the “MIT EnergySIG”) , the organizers of the 2008 Ignite Clean Energy Business Competition (the “Competition”) and the contestants involved in the Competition, each judging committee member and each judge participating in the Competition states and agrees as follows:  

I would like to participate in and be supportive of the Competition and I understand that the purpose of the Competition is to foster entrepreneurial activities in the clean energy field in Massachusetts.

 

I understand that in the course of my participation in the Competition I will have access to documents and information submitted or presented by contestants in the Competition. Such documents will include executive summaries of business plans (collectively, “Plans”), and such information will include the ideas, inventions and concepts (collectively “Ideas”) contained in the Plans or presented orally by contestants. I understand that all intellectual and other property rights of all contestants will remain unaltered as a result of entering the Competition. I also understand that some of these Ideas may constitute trade secrets and that contestants may not have yet taken appropriate steps to patent, copyright or otherwise protect their Plans or Ideas. I also understand that certain documents submitted or presented by contestants may be marked “CONFIDENTIAL” (collectively, such documents and the information contained therein, “Confidential Information”).

 

In consideration of my participation in the Competition, I agree that only I will review the Confidential Information and that I will take all reasonable effort to hold the Confidential Information which I may receive in the course of the Competition in strict confidence and will not copy, reveal or disclose such Confidential Information to others. At the request of the Competition organizers, I will either return the Confidential Information to the Competition organizers for return to its owner or certify the destruction of the Confidential Information.

 

The above restrictions shall not apply to any Confidential Information which is in the public domain at the time of disclosure or becomes publicly known through no wrongful act of mine, is known to me at the time of disclosure or is independently developed by me, is used or disclosed with the approval of the contestants involved, is furnished to a third party without similar restrictions on the third party's rights, is received by me from a third party who has a lawful right to disclose it to me, is disclosed pursuant to the requirement or request of a governmental agency or is disclosed by a governmental entity pursuant to the laws or policies governing that entity.

 

The above restrictions will apply during the time that the Competition is occurring and for a period of six (6) months after the winners are publicly announced.

 

I am pleased to support the Competition and during my involvement with it I agree to abide by such other rules and guidelines which MIT, the Forum or the MIT EnergySIG may reasonably impose upon appropriate notice.