Intel wrong about Tamil Nadu law?
By Sumir Singh

On Feb 2, 2010, my Techgoss colleague Techgirl has published details of a competition in which Intel teamed up with respected super blogger Amit Agarwal to launch a ‘Turbo Tips’ contest. Any Indian who is above 18 years of age can send in tips on just about any topic to win a number of gifts including a grand prize of an Acer Aspire 5740 laptop.

The 4 weekly prizes are a Sony MP3 Player.

While both Intel and Digital Inspiration are highly regarded in India, for some reason Indians from Tamil Nadu (TN) could not participate in this contest. Chip giant Intel India lawyers told the contestants that “This contest is open to all Indian residents who are above 18 years of age except the state of Tamil Nadu. All prize schemes as defined under The Tamil Nadu Prize Schemes (Prohibition) Act, are prohibited in the state of Tamil Nadu. This is the only reason why Intel India had to exclude TN from the contest.”

Well, before you could say ‘All Indians are equal’, in popped in a tip into the Techgoss inbox. A tipster whose day job is a lawyer tells Techgoss that the Intel lawyers need to read the Tamil Nadu (TN) laws more closely.  Apparently,  only if the contest forces you to buy Intel products to participate does the Tamil Nadu Prize Scheme (Prohibition) Act apply

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Under the Tamil Nadu Prize Scheme (Prohibition) Act, ‘Prize Scheme’ is defined under section 2(b) of the act, which reads as follows:

‘Prize Scheme’ means any scheme by whatever name called whereby any prize or gift (whether by way of money or by movable or immovable property) is offered, or is proposed to be given or delivered to one or more persons to be determined by lot, draw or in any other manner from among person who purchase or have purchased goods or other articles from shops, centers or any other places whatsoever specified by the sponsors of the scheme or on any event or contingency relative or applicable to the drawing of any ticket, lot, number or figure in relation to such purchasers.
“

But the Intel India – Digital Inspiration competition is only about sending in Tips on any topic and does not involve buying any Intel product to participate.  Hence the law should not apply to it.

The tipster tells us that Google, Hewlett Packard and others have done similar contests without barring Tamil Nadu.

(Techgoss had published the following story on Feb 2, 2010)

Intel comp: No Tamil Nadu
By Techgirl

Both are equally well known and regarded in the Indian tech industry.

Intel is the chip giant which dominates its niche.  Intel has quarterly revenues of approx $10 billion of which 2-3 billion are net profits.

Indian tech blog ‘Digital Inspiration’ is mandatory daily reading for most in the Indian IT, BPO and KPO sectors.  Digital Inspiration creator Amit Agarwal gave up a lucrative career in IT in 2004 to pursue full-time blogging and has gone from strength to strength. Amit is one of the pillars of the Indian blogsosphere.

Intel has teamed up with Amit to launch a ‘Turbo Tips’ contest which ends on Feb 28, 2010.  Any Indian who is above 18 years of age can send in tips on just about any topic to win a number of gifts including a grand prize of an Acer Aspire 5740 laptop. The 4 weekly prizes are a Sony MP3 Player.

While the contest has the usual legalese like ‘Contest Organizers can at any given point of time, withdraw the offer without assigning any reason whatsoever’, Point 4 caught my eye

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4) The offer is valid all over India (except Tamil Nadu).
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In all my years in tech reporting, I would have reported on at least 30 such competitions.  But this is the first time I have come across only one state Tamil Nadu being prevented from participating.  Have you seen this exclusion before?

Don’t be surprised if you see arch political rivals Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi joining hands to work out why Tamil Nadu is excluded.

Techgoss note: Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com