During last month's newsletter, we announced that we are going to begin quarterly reviews of all our contest rules and submission guidelines.

Based on the valuable feedback you guys provided to us, we'll be implementing the following changes:

General Contest Rules (ver. 1.0.1)

• Changed the "Ask a Question" section to the currently titled "Discussions" section.
• Moved "Prize Distribution" section governing winner/runner up rules to each individual Contest type's rules section.

Prior Art Search Contest Rules (ver. 1.1.0)

• Added new rule to specify that "any issues with interpretation of a contest questions will be resolved using the original text of the patent(s) from the contest design."
• Added to disqualification criteria earlier or later revisions or drafts of a known reference.
• Added to disqualification criteria references that would not be considered "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)."
• Changed runner up selection from "may include up to a maximum of 10 users or a lesser number that allows each share to be at least $100" to "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."
• Clarified tie-breakers to include that "the final score may be modified while maintaining overall ranking."

Our goal with these rule changes is to clarify some of the internal processes that happen at Patexia when we evaluate submissions and place additional restrictions on ourselves to ensure each Contest results in a fair outcome.

We hope that these changes will help assure our users that we will continue to fairly recognize and reward their contributions to our platform.

These rules will take immediate effect to all contests posted on and after May 7th, 2014.

We always welcome any feedback or questions you might have to our rules and policies. Please feel free to comment below or email us directly at contests@patexia.com.

Thanks for being a valuable member of the Patexia Community and the best of luck on your next Contest!

Cheers,
Andy Chu
Manager, Case Research