These Terms of Use constitute a binding agreement between BCCL and yourself (as a User/ Participant/ Nominee/ Candidate and/or Voter) governing your use of the services provided by this website. By using the service or this website, per se, you agree to be bound by all the terms and conditions of the Terms of Use. ‘www.toifa.in' is the registered domain name and official website of Times of India Film Awards -OTT 2023, owned by Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd (“BCCL”).

1. Definitions

• The following terms and conditions form the Rules to the Awards event organized by BCCL and shall govern the Users/ Voters/ and/or Participants to the Awards
• By participating in the Awards, the Users agree to abide by and be bound by these Rules. You may access the Website content, User submissions and other content only as permitted under this Agreement. Awards Management reserves all rights not expressly granted in and to the Awards content and the Awards Website.
• These Rules and Regulations, Awards/prizes, and the Award categories of the Awards given may be changed / modified / split / merged / increased / decreased and/or cancelled by the Award Management based on the number and quality of participation entries received. If there is any disagreement with any of the Rules and any amendments thereto, Participant must not participate in the Awards.
  
  In the event that no Participant is found to be worthy of inclusion by the Award Management and/ or Jury in a specific award category, the award/ prize for the specific category may be cancelled. The decision of Award Management with respect to the eligibility and/or participation of a Participant will be final and binding. The Award Management will not entertain any queries in this regard.
• The award/prizes given may be changed / modified / split / merged / increased / decreased or cancelled by the Award Management based on the number and quality of entries received.

3. Categories and Selection Process:

• The Jury will evaluate the received nominations, and a list of top nominees will be shortlisted for each category of Awards based on jury scores.
• On receipt of the top nominees shortlisted by the Jury, the Advisory Council may add an additional nominee in each category if a prominent nominee is not shortlisted.
• All finalists will then be collated for each category (except People’s Choice Awards) for the TOIFA Academy to vote.
• The winners for these categories will be determined based on TOIFA Academy votes.
• For the categories of People’s Choice, the finalists will be opened for public voting and the winners will be determined basis public votes for each category.
• The winner/s agree(s) to sign the requisite forms, contracts, and documents to claim the award.
• The decision of the Jury and/or the TOIFA Academy regarding the winner/s and shortlisted candidates in each Category shall be final and binding on all Users. The Participant shall accept and abide by all decisions made by TOIFA Academy and the Jury, without limitation, decisions relating to the TOIFA OTT Awards, selection of winner/s, and the criteria for selection of winner/s. No queries with respect to the decision of the Jury and/or the TOIFA Academy shall be entertained and no Participant and/or any other person or entity shall have any claims in this regard and shall accept the said decision without any protest or demur.
• The Awards Management, the TOIFA Academy and/or the Jury are under no obligation to provide to the Participant any comments or feedback regarding the submitted Entry, any information relating to the manner in which the Entry is, will be, or was reviewed, any reasons why the Entry was not accepted; or any other information relating to the Entry’s review, consideration and/or selection process.
• The names of the Jury may not be revealed until the entire process of selecting the winner of each Category as mentioned hereinabove has been completed.

4. Jury Evaluation Process

• An esteemed association of the members of the entertainment industry will be appointed by the Awards Management who will ratify the finalists shortlisted by the Jury and then vote independently to determine final winners.

  Jury reserves the right to re-categorize any entry which in their view is incorrectly categorized basis the information provided by the online video streaming platforms.

  Jury has the right to increase or reduce the number of Nominees in any award category as per its discretion.

  Any additional information, if needed, will be sought from shortlisted Participants/ Nominees. Such information sourced from the Participants will become part of the original application. Winner declaration

  The Awards Management reserves the right to offer or withdraw any of the prizes/rewards/gratification/Award as provided herein, at any point of time, including after they have been announced.

5. Public voting

• Top finalists shortlisted by the jury will be announced to public for voting by Awards Management for the following categories under the segment of People’s Choice
  • People’s Choice Female Actor – Web Film
  • People’s Choice Male Actor – Web Film
  • People’s Choice Female Actor – Web Series
  • People’s Choice Male Actor – Web Series
• The number and type of award categories that could be opened to public voting can be modified and changed at the discretion of the Awards Management, Jury, and TOIFA Academy.
• Public can vote on the nominees announced for the above categories through the public voting portal, as facility made available by the Awards Management.
• If the participation entries are not received in the correct and defined format, then they may not be considered for evaluation purposes.
• Last date for public voting will be announced subsequently by the Awards Management.

6. Representation and Warranties of the Participants:

• The Participant represents and warrants that it has obtained all necessary licenses, permissions, certifications, and authorizations, and has complied with all applicable laws necessary for participating in the TOIFA OTT Awards.
• The Participant represents and warrants that it is not under any contract with any person, firm, corporation or authority that would prevent its participation in the TOIFA OTT Awards and display of the Entries or any other matter connected therewith and agrees to indemnify Awards Management against any claim that may be brought against it in this regard or any loss that may be caused due to it.
• The Participants and the Winners agree and undertake not to engage in any press, publicity or other discussion with any third party in connection with their Entry and its participation in the TOIFA OTT Awards or any other aspect of the TOIFA OTT Awards, before, during or after the TOIFA OTT Awards, without obtaining prior written approval of the Awards Management.
• The Participants and Winners agree that furnishing of any false information or concealment of any material facts in the application form will result in immdiate disqualification of the Participant.
• The Participant agrees that it shall not have any claim against the Awards Management or its sponsors in case of cancellation or postponement of the TOIFA OTT Awards.
• The Participant agrees not to make any unauthorized contact with the jury or try to influence the decisions of the jury or any other act of such kind. The Awards Management reserves the right to disqualify any Participant indulging in such acts.
• The Participant acknowledges that in case any of the provisions of these Terms are deemed invalid or become unenforceable or prohibited by applicable law, such portions shall be considered divisible and the remainder of these Terms shall be valid and binding and shall be effective as though such provision was not included herein.

7. Voting Terms and Conditions

• By continuing to vote in the TOIFA OTT Edition 2023 you (hereinafter referred to as “Voter” / “You”) confirm that you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions mentioned hereinbelow:
• Voting can be done online by visiting TOIFA website for the eligible categories as provided on this said URL link starting 28th June 2024 to 20th July 2024 (hereinafter referred to as “Voting Period”).
• There are four (04) different categories of nominations for which the voting can be done by a Voter.
• Voters can cast only one vote per category for each of the nominated categories during the Voting Period.
• The Awards Management shall not be responsible if a Voter is unable to cast its Vote for any technical or other reasons such as network problem, breakdown of machinery, connection failure, electricity failure etc. While casting their votes a user shall ensure that it has good internet connectivity. No claims shall be entertained in this regard against the Awards Management and Voter(S) may connect with the concerned authority / network provider for resolution of the same at their own cost and expenses.
• The Awards Management reserves the right to make any modifications in the nominations for any reasons whatsoever or amend or modify or add any new entries at its sole discretion at any point in time with or without any notification or reasons to be disclosed to the public at large.
• The Awards Management reserves the right to disqualify any Vote or suspend the voting or reduce the Voting Period in case it is reasonably satisfied for any fraudulent or manipulation in the votes being cast by the Voters. It may also disqualify the said category of nomination for which such manipulation is suspected to have occurred. No claims shall be entertained in this regard against the Award Management and the Award Management’s decision shall be considered final in any such scenario.
• The Awards Management has introduced a fair voting mechanism for the TOIFA Awards and no claims shall be entertained against the same. The Awards Management shall not be obligated to entertain any requests or claims for recounting of votes for any nomination category or provide any reasoning behind the selection or non-selection of any entry. The Award Management’s decision shall be final and binding.
• There shall be no voting for the Jury award nominations and this shall be solely based on the jury discretion and decision.
• Voter(s) shall not make any claims against the Award Management, Jury and or any person appearing on the TOIFA Awards ceremony, its affiliates, their employees, directors, authorized representatives, arising out of or relating to any and all costs, injuries, accidents, deaths, losses or damages of any kind, including without limitation due to any technical faults, directly or indirectly to their voting.
• The Awards Management further shall not be responsible in any manner, for any injuries/ damages/ losses/ harm/ damages/ death/ mental trauma/ emotional trauma etc suffered by any Voter in any manner in connection with the TOIFA Awards and or any aspect relating to the voting. Voter shall at all given points in time keep and hold harmless the Awards Management and its affiliates and group companies, their employees, officers, directors etc from and against any claims / damages or third party claims raised against the Awards Management due to any act or omission by the Voter in regard to the voting mechanism to be followed by the Voters and also for any injuries/ damages/ losses/ harm/ damages/ death/ mental trauma/ emotional trauma suffered by the Voter. Voters also willingly waives all rights to file any in person or through any family members or friends or third party any applications, criminal and / or civil proceedings in any courts or forums in India to claim any damages or reliefs against the Awards Management.
• Voter(s) agree not to attempt any unauthorized access to the Awards Management’s servers to manipulate the entries or votes. If found, the Awards Management shall take appropriate legal action such Voter(s) / individuals.
• Further, Voters agree that they shall not make any attempts to spam the votes either directly or indirectly, reverse engineer, attempt to modify the entries or votes at any time, which if committed, shall be treated as an offence and the Awards Management may disqualify the voter, votes for the nomination entry and also take action(s) against such voter / individual.
• By casting their votes, each Voter hereby acknowledge and accepts the above Terms and Conditions and further agrees and permits the Awards Management to consider their votes for deciding the winners for each nomination category. Voters also agrees to receive any and all communications including advertisements and marketing communications with respect to the TOIFA Awards and any other products / events of the Awards Management and or its affiliates, group companies.

8. Intellectual Property Rights

• Participant for the purpose of entering the Award, automatically grants the Awards Management a royalty-free, irrevocable, worldwide, non-transferable, non-exclusive right and license to use and display such entry, for participation in the Award, and any intellectual property in relation to and arising out of such participation in the Award and footage thereof, which shall include trade publications, press releases, electronic posting to the Website, the website in any display format selected during the Awards as it deems fit.
• The Participants and Winners consent to be interviewed, photographed, recorded and filmed: The Awards and event will be filmed, recorded, taped and broadcasted to the public in any media now or hereafter known, worldwide. By attending the Awards and event (either physical or virtual), the Participants hereby irrevocably grant the Award Management and to its successors, licensees and assigns, in perpetuity:
  • The right to use such interview as well as the Participant’s picture, silhouette and/or any other reproductions of their likeness and any or all scenes, photography, videotape or film in which they appear in and in connection with the Awards and event (including but not limited to the production of the programme, show and/or conference) and the broadcast, exhibition, commercial exploitation, advertising and promotion thereof; and
  • All right, title and interest in and to the results and proceeds of such interview, of photography, recordings and/or videotape rendered, in connection with the Awards and event (including but not limited to the production of the programme, show and/or conference).
• Without limiting the foregoing, the Participants acknowledge that the results and proceeds containing their appearance (including but not limited to the interviews, acceptance speech and all activities during their participation, attendance and/or appearance) can be used in the distribution and exhibition of the Awards and event in any and all media now or hereafter known, in perpetuity, and in any and all publicity and exploitation in connection therewith. The Participants further understand that they shall not be entitled to payment of whatever kind or nature in connection with the use of such appearance by the Awards Management (including but not limited to interviews, acceptance speech and all activities during participation, attendance and/or appearance), and that the Awards Management shall have no obligation towards the Participants, either monetary or otherwise. The Participants shall hereby release the Awards Management and its successors, licensees and assigns from any and all claims that the Participants may hereafter have against the Awards Management, in connection in any manner with the rights the Participants are granting herein.
• The Site, Services and the Company Content are protected by copyright, trademark and other applicable laws. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, the Awards Management exclusively owns all right, title and interest in and to the Site, Services, and the Company Content, including all associated intellectual property. You may not remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary rights notices incorporated in or accompanying the Site, Services or the Awards Management Content. The Awards Management claims no ownership interest in any Third Party Content and expressly disclaims any liability concerning those materials.
• The Users, Voters and/or Participants are not authorized to use their own device and/or third party’s devices to record or film and/or publish any part of the Awards and the event, without prior written approval from Awards Management. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use www.toifa.in content in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. You also agree not to adapt, alter or create a derivative work from any toifa.in content except for your own personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of the Awards website content requires prior written permission of the Awards Management.
• Prohibited Use: You may not access or use, or attempt to access or use, the website to take any action that could harm us or a third party. You may not use the website in violation of applicable laws, including export controls and sanctions, or in violation of our or any third party's intellectual property or other proprietary or egal rights. You further agree that you will not attempt (or encourage or support anyone else's attempt) to circumvent, reverse engineer, decrypt, or otherwise alter or interfere with the website, or any content thereof, or make any unauthorized use of the Services. Without the Award Management's prior written consent, you shall not use robots, spiders, scripts, service, software or any manual or automatic device, tool, or process designed to data mine or scrape the Content, data or information from the website, or otherwise use, access, or collect the content, data or information from the website using automated means.
• Engaging in prohibited use of the website may result in civil, criminal, and/or administrative penalties, fines, or sanctions against the User and those assisting the User.
• It is further clarified that except where specifically authorised, any access to the website and/ or its content by artificial intelligence bots or crawlers shall constitute breach of these terms and conditions, except strictly for the purpose of search engine indexing and searches, and failure of the Awards Management to prevent such access by artificial intelligence bots or crawlers or failure to exercise any right, power or remedy provided under the applicable laws or otherwise available in respect hereof in equity, or to insist upon compliance of these terms and conditions shall not constitute a waiver by the Awards Management of its right to exercise any such or other right, power or remedy or to demand such compliance later.

9. Under-Age Users:

• Users below the age of 18 years must get permission from a parent or guardian before taking part in any toifa.in discussion.
• Never reveal any personal information about yourself or anyone else (for example, telephone number, home address or email address).

10. Indemnification

• Awards Management Disclaims All Liability Whether Based In Contract, Tort (Including Negligence), Strict Liability Or Otherwise, And Does Not Accept Any Liability For Any Loss Or Damage (Direct, Indirect, Punitive, Actual, Consequential, Incidental, Special, Exemplary Or Otherwise) resulting from any use of, or inability to use, the site or any other web site, or the material, information, software, facilities, services or other content on the site or any other web site, regardless of the basis upon which liability is claimed and even if awards management has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage. Without Limitation, You Assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction in the event of any such loss or damage arising. If applicable law does not allow all or any part of the above limitation of liability to apply to you, the limitations will apply to you only to the extent permitted by applicable law.
• Awards Management cannot and shall not be accountable / liable for any disruptions / stoppages / interruptions or cancellation of the Awards. Awards Management and its contractors cannot be held responsible for matters out of its control and for force majeure reasons.
• All Users/ Voters/ Participants, indemnify and hold harmless the Awards Management, its advertising agencies, advisers, sponsors, its affiliates and/or associated companies against any and all claims of any nature whatsoever arising out of and/or from their participation in any way howsoever in participation of Awards or voting (including, as a result of any act or omission, whether as a result of negligence, misrepresentation, misconduct or otherwise on the part of the Promoter) and/or use of these Rules and Regulations.

11. Limitation of Liability:

In no event shall the Awards Management, its officers, directors, employees, or agents, be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential damages whatsoever resulting from any (i) errors, mistakes, or inaccuracies of content, (ii) personal injury or property damage, of any nature whatsoever, resulting from your access to and use of the website, (iii) any unauthorized access to or use of our secure servers and/or any and all personal information and/or financial information stored therein, (iv) any interruption or cessation of transmission to or from the website, (iv) any bugs, viruses, trojan horses, or the like, which may be transmitted to or through the website by any third party, and/or (v) any errors or omissions in any content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of your use of any content posted, emailed, transmitted, or otherwise made available via the TOIFA OTT Website, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, and whether or not the company is advised of the possibility of such damages. The foregoing limitation of liability shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law in the applicable jurisdiction. You specifically acknowledge that Awards Management shall not be liable for user submissions or the defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of any third party and that the risk of harm or damage from the foregoing rests entirely with you.

12. Force Majeure

The Awards Management shall not be liable to any Participant in the event is the said Event does not take place or the Awards Management is unable to adhere to any of the contents of the Terms stated herein for any reason whatsoever, including owing due to acts of God, wars, blockades, hostilities, civil disturbances, riots, strikes, lock-outs, epidemics, pandemics or large scale sanitary crisis, fire, storm and flood, judgment or orders of any court of law, acts of terrorism, embargo, any force majeure events and government orders or restrictions, transmission failure or damage reasonably beyond its control, or other causes reasonably beyond its control.

13. General

All disputes relating to or arising out of the Awards shall be subject to the laws of India and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of competent jurisdiction at Mumbai, India. If Participants are unclear as to the rules or any element of the Awards or experience difficulties of any kind, they can write in their questions, problems or queries to the following address, Awards Management shall endeavor to the best of its ability to respond. You also agree and accept the Privacy Policy of TOIFA- OTT Edition 2023 and allow use of cookies for the purpose defined in this document.