PDF verison of official rules is available here.

THE FOLLOWING CONTEST IS VALID ONLY IN THE 50 UNITED STATES/DC. DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST IF YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE AND NOT LOCATED IN THE UNITED STATES/DC AT THE TIME OF ENTRY. THIS CONTEST WILL BE CONSTRUED AND EVALUATED ACCORDING TO UNITED STATES LAW.

The Office Depot Adopt A Small Business Contest
OFFICIAL RULES

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING.

HOW TO ENTER: The Office Depot Adopt A Small Business Contest (the “Contest”) begins at 12:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (“EDT”) on June 1, 2009, and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (“EDT”) on July 31, 2009 (the “Promotion Period”). To enter, visit www.TheSurvivalOfTheSmartest.com ("Website") and complete the online entry form with all required information, including your name and email address, the name of the Small Business you are entering on behalf of, the name of the owner of the Small Business (if you are not the Small Business owner), the business’ address and the Small Business’ phone number. Submit the entry form along with a creative and compelling Video (up to two minutes in length) that explains the smart things the Small Business is doing to survive these challenging times and how Office Depot is helping the Small Business (“Video”) and is compliant with the technical requirements outlined below. Entry must be in English. Entry information and Video (collectively "Entry") must be received by 11:59:59 EDT pm on July 31, 2009. No other method of entry will be accepted or acknowledged. Entries must include all the required information or they will not be eligible. Void outside the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and where prohibited by law. Limit five (5) entries per Small Business. The Entry will be deemed submitted on behalf of the Small Business. No prizes will be awarded to the person who submits an entry on behalf of the Small Business. Neither Office Depot, Inc. (“Sponsor”) nor any of the Released Parties are liable for any disputes between the Entrant and the owner of the Small Business related to the Contest.

Sponsor and its agents are not responsible for any lost, late, misdirected, incomplete entries or for any inaccurate transcription of entry information, or any failures and/or delays in online transmissions, malfunction or failure of any internet connection, malfunction or failure of software or hardware, or any other errors or delays in the transmission or receipt of entries, whether human or technical in nature. Proof of submission (i.e.: screen shots) is not proof of receipt by Sponsor. Once submitted, Entries become the exclusive property of the Sponsor and will not be returned.

ELIGIBILIT ELIGIBILITY AND CONDITIONS: The Contest is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are over the age of majority in their state of residence. The Small Business featured in the video must be registered and operating lawfully within the United States at time of entry. A Small Business is defined for the purpose of this Contest as one that is independently owned and operated and has no more than 99 full- and part-time employees. Employees of Office Depot, Inc., Young and Rubicam Brands and each of their respective subsidiaries, af affiliates, parent companies, retail locations, suppliers, distributors, advertising, promotion or any other agencies or entities involved with this Contest, and the employees, shareholders, directors, officers, members and agents of each (collectively, “Released Parties”) or members of the immediate families (biological, step, or in-law), including parents, grandparents, children, siblings or spouses of any of the foregoing (regardless of where they live) or households of any of the above, whether related or not, are NOT eligible to participate.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: Video must be submitted in an electronic file format. The Video file cannot be more than 2 minutes in length. File size should be kept at or under 100MB and must be in one of the following formats: .MPEG; .MOV; .AVI or .WMV.

Winning entrants may be asked to provide the original audio and video files used during production of the Video. This may include uncompressed files, final audio mix and/or separate audio tracks for dialogue, music and effects.

Entries that do not comply with these Official Rules or that otherwise contain prohibited or inappropriate content as determined by the Sponsor, in its sole discretion, will be disqualified and will not be considered for prizes. Sponsor makes the final determination as to which Entries are eligible to take part in this Contest and be considered for a Prize.

BY SUBMITTING AN ENTRY, ENTRANT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HIS/HER ENTRY MAY BE POSTED ON SPONSOR’S WEBSITE AT SPONSOR’S DISCRETION. By submitting an Entry, Entrant agrees that submission is gratuitous and made without restriction, and will not place Sponsor under any obligation that Sponsor is free to disclose or otherwise disclose the ideas contained in the Video on a non-confidential basis to anyone or otherwise use the ideas without any additional compensation to you. Entrants acknowledge that Sponsor does not waive any rights to use similar or related ideas previously known to Sponsor, or developed by its employees, or obtained from sources other than you. Entrants may be required to submit a release signed by each identifiable person appearing in your Entry granting Sponsor permission to use his or her image/likeness if your Entry is selected to receive a prize. Submission of an Entry grants Released Parties an unlimited, worldwide, perpetual, license and right to publish, use, publicly perform the Video in any way, in any and all media, without limitation, and without consideration to the Entrant. By submitting an Entry, you warrant and represent that it: (a) is your original work, (b) has not been previously published, (c) has not won previous awards, (d) does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity; (e) and that publication of the Video via various media including Web posting, will not infringe on the rights of any third party. Entrant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Released Parties from any claims to the contrary. Entrants agree that Video will be deemed a Work Made For Hire under the Copyright laws of the United States, but if it cannot be so deemed, then the Winner irrevocably assigns and transfers to Sponsor all of his/her right, title and interest in and to his/her Video, including all but not limited to all copyright and trademark rights which he or she may have, in the United States andworldwide, therein, for consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged. Winner hereby waives in favor of Sponsor, all rights of “Droit Moral” or “Moral Rights of Authors” or any similar rights or principles of law that Winner may now or later have to their Video. Sponsor reserves the right to alter, change or modify the winning Video, in its sole discretion. Upon request of Sponsor, entrants shall execute and deliver such additional instrument of assignment, as may be solely deemed by Sponsor, reasonably necessary to establish the ownership of record of the right, title and interest in and to the Video and of the copyrights transferred and “Moral Rights of Authors” waived under these Official Rules. Should Sponsor fail to request the said assignment as stated, that shall not be deemed a waiver of Sponsor’s rights and Sponsor may at a later time request the assignment.

JUDGING/SELECTION OF PRIZE WINNERS: All entries will be judged by an independent judging panel from among all eligible entries received based on the following criteria: (a) creativity and originality (30%); (b) best original interpretation of theme – how Office Depot helps the Small Business (40%); and (c) Most compelling story – explaining the smart things the Small Business is doing to survive these challenging times (30%). In the event of a tie, the tied entrant with the highest score in creativity will be declared the winner. In the event a tie still remains, a new judge will break the tie based upon the criteria set forth herein. By entering, all Entrants agree that the judge’s decisions are final and binding.

PRIZES: Five Hundred (500): Each winning Small Business named on the Entry will receive $1,300 in Office Depot gift cards, One year of Tech Depot™ Services Tech Support* valued at $599.99 (Includes annual tech support including virus removal and tune ups, data backup, PC return to you, and an initial on site evaluation visit. Does not include service for warranty, hardware or parts) and a $110 gift card from Design, Print & Ship Depot™. The approximate retail value of the prize is: $2,009.99. *Subscription Services In order to obtain subscription Services, you must at all times have current and functional antivirus software in place and running on Your computer. Failure to maintain such software may result in additional charges and fees. In order to purchase subscription Services, Your covered computer(s) must be virus free (as determined by us) at the time that You purchase the subscription. If we determine that Your computer is infected by a virus, we may require that You purchase a Service to clean Your computer prior to obtaining subscription Services. Unless and until you notify us that you wish to not renew the subscription Services, we will charge the credit card we have on file upon expiration of the previous subscription period. All subscription Services are non-refundable.

No transfer, assignment, cash redemption or substitution of prize (or portion thereof) except by Sponsor due to prize unavailability and then for a prize (or portion thereof) of equal or greater value. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value due to prize unavailability. All taxes on prizes are the sole responsibility of the winning business. Winning Small Businesses are advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. All prizes will be awarded provided there are a sufficient number of eligible entries and are properly claimed. Limit one prize per Small Business.

The Small Business must be operating at the time prize is awarded. If entrant is deemed ineligible or fails to satisfy all requests set forth in the rules, Sponsor may in its discretion disqualify the Entry and award the prize to the next highest scoring Entry. The potential winning businesses will be notified by overnight mail and the owners will be required to sign, have notarized and return an unmodified Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability Release and a Publicity Release within five (5) days of issuance. If any prize or prize notification is returned as undeliverable, or if a Winner cannot be contacted for any reason, or if a owner fails to execute and return required documentation within the time frame specified, prize will be forfeited. Sponsor reserves the right to require a potential winning Entrant to submit to a confidential background check to confirm eligibility and help ensure that the use of any such person in advertising or publicity for the Contest will not bring Sponsor into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule or reflect unfavorably on the Contest as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.

LIABILITY RELEASE: As a condition of entering, Entrants agree (and agree to confirm in writing): (a) to release Released Parties from any and all liability, loss or damage incurred with respect to the awarding, receipt, possession and/or use or misuse of any prize or any use of the Entry; (b) under no circumstances will Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and participant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, consequential or any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses; (c) all causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, or any prize awarded or use of the Entry, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action; and (d) any and all claims, judgments, and award shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, excluding attorneys’ fees and court costs. By accepting prizes, Winners agree (and agree to confirm in writing) to be bound by the Official Rules and the judge’s decisions and to release all Releasees from any and all liability, loss or damage of any kind arising out of or in connection with their participation in this Contest or with the respect to awarding, receipt, possession, use and or misuse of any prize or participation in any prize-related activities or through the use of it.

As a condition of awarding a prize, the winning Small Business owners agree to confirm in writing that they will be required to grant the Sponsor the right to the use of the Winner’s name, image and likeness, voice and biographical materials, and the name of Winner’s business for advertising, publicity and promotion purposes without territorial, time or use limitations, including without limitation online announcements, without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law.

INTERNET: The Released Parties are not responsible for technical, hardware, software, telephone or other communications malfunctions, errors or failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, Website, Internet, or ISP availability, unauthorized human intervention, traffic congestion, incomplete or inaccurate capture of entry information (regardless of cause) or failed, incomplete, garbled, jumbled or delayed computer transmissions which may limit one's ability to enter the Contest, including any injury or damage to participant’s or any other person’s computer relating to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading or uploading any materials in this Contest. The Released Parties do not assume any responsibility for any disruption in the Contest, labor strikes, or any other act, circumstance or other unforeseen event outside of the control of the Released Parties. The Released Parties are not responsible for lost, late, stolen, illegible, incomplete, misdirected, damaged or destroyed entries or for lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server or other connections, miscommunications, failed telephone or computer hardware or software or technical failures, garbled or jumbled transmissions or other errors of any kind, whether human, mechanical or electronic, including, without limitation, the incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry information online. Once submitted, entries become the exclusive property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Entry material/data that has been tampered with or altered is void. If, for any reason (including, but not limited to, infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other cause beyond the control of Sponsor), the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest is affected or corrupted and cannot be conducted as described in these rules, Sponsor shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest or to select Winners based on the stated judging criteria from among all valid entries received, up to such time of cancellation, termination or suspension. If such event occurs, Sponsor will post notice on www.TheSurvivalOfTheSmartest.com.

Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual (and all of his or her Contest entries) who tampers with the entry process. Automated entries are prohibited, and any use of such automated devices will cause disqualification. ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK REMEDIES AND DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

GOVERNING L LAW/JURISDICTION: ALL ISSUES AND QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE CONSTRUCTION, VALIDITY, INTERPRETATION AND ENFORCEABILITY OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES OR THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF ENTRANTS OR SPONSOR IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONTEST SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INTERNAL LAWS OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, U.S., WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO ANY CHOICE OF LAW OR CONFLICT OF LAW RULES OR PROVISIONS THAT WOULD CAUSE THE APPLICATION OF ANY OTHER STATE’S LAWS. BY ENTERING, EACH ENTRANT HEREBY CONSENTS TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL COURTS LOCATED IN BOCA RATON, FLORIDA.

WINNERS LIST REQUESTS: For names of the Winning businesses, send a self-addressed, stamped #10 envelope for receipt by August 31, 2009, to: Office Depot Adopt a Small Business Winners List, P.O. Box 324, Lombard, IL 60148-0324. The Winners List will be sent when all Winners have been verified and prizes have been awarded.

SPONSOR: Office Depot, Inc., 6600 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL 33496.
ADMINISTRATOR: Wunderman, 233 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60601.