Agent Academy Live Hackathon — Disclaimer
Protecting Confidential Content and Submissions
Important Notice to All Contributors
This disclaimer governs your use of the Agent Academy Live Hackathon public GitHub repository. By submitting content, code, or materials to this repository, you acknowledge and agree to these terms.
The Agent Academy Live Hackathon is a developer challenge showcasing AI agent development using patterns and concepts from the Agent Academy curriculum and Microsoft Copilot Studio. Submissions are made to a public repository accessible worldwide. Contributors must ensure compliance with all applicable policies, protect confidential information, and understand their responsibilities regarding intellectual property and liability.
Failure to comply may result in content removal, disqualification from the hackathon, or other appropriate actions. Please read this disclaimer carefully before making any submissions.
Prohibited Content and Confidential Information Protection
Contributors must never upload confidential, proprietary, or sensitive information to this public repository.
Prohibited content includes
- Company Confidential or Highly Confidential information
- Company Internal engineering projects not approved for open source
- Customer data or personally identifiable information (PII)
- Credentials, API keys, passwords, tokens, or secrets
- Proprietary algorithms or trade secrets
- Pre-release product information under NDA
All submissions must contain only General-level information suitable for public release. Contributors are responsible for reviewing their code and removing any sensitive data before submission.
Security Risk Assessment
| Content Type | Risk Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Credentials & Secrets | Critical | Immediate security breach risk if exposed |
| Customer PII | High | Compliance violations and privacy concerns |
| Proprietary Code | High | Intellectual property and competitive risks |
| Pre-release Information | Medium | NDA violations and competitive disadvantage |
| Internal Documentation | Medium | Confidentiality breach concerns |
Intellectual Property Rights and Licensing
By submitting content to this repository, contributors grant Microsoft and the community specific rights while retaining certain protections.
Contributor Representations and Warranties
- All submissions must be the contributor's original work or properly licensed for public use
- Contributors represent and warrant they have all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions for submitted materials
- Submissions become subject to the repository's open source license as specified in the LICENSE file
- Contributors retain ownership of their original work but grant Microsoft a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, and distribute submissions for operating the hackathon program
The repository follows Microsoft's Contributor License Agreement (CLA) process to protect both contributors and Microsoft.
Prohibited Intellectual Property Violations
Contributors must not submit content that:
- Infringes third-party intellectual property rights
- Violates patents or copyrights
- Contains proprietary information belonging to employers or other entities without authorization
Rights Summary
| Rights Category | Contributor Retains | Microsoft Receives | Community Receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Original work copyright and authorship | Non-exclusive usage rights | Access under open source license |
| Usage Rights | Right to reuse in other projects | Right to operate hackathon program | Right to fork, modify, and distribute |
| License Grant | Can license elsewhere independently | Perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license | Rights per repository LICENSE file |
| Modification Rights | Can modify own original work | Can adapt submissions for platform needs | Can create derivative works per license |
| Distribution | Can distribute original independently | Can distribute as part of hackathon | Can redistribute per license terms |
Security Best Practices for Repository Contributions
Contributors must implement security best practices before submitting:
Authentication and Access
- ✅ Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on GitHub accounts
- ✅ Store recovery codes securely
- ✅ Use GitHub Personal Access Tokens instead of passwords
- ✅ Revoke tokens when no longer needed
Secret Management
- ✅ Never commit credentials, keys, or secrets to any Git repository
- ✅ Use environment variables or secure vaults instead
- ✅ Review Git commit history to ensure no sensitive information was accidentally included
- ✅ Scan code with secret detection tools before pushing to public repositories
Attribution and Compliance
- ✅ Configure Git clients to use appropriate email addresses for commits
- ✅ Follow the Open Source Code of Conduct
Contributor Responsibilities and Requirements
Pre-Submission Requirements
- ☐ Verify all submissions comply with Microsoft Open Source GitHub Guidelines and these disclaimer terms
- ☐ Ensure submissions contain only General-level, non-confidential information approved for public release
- ☐ Review and remove any sensitive data, credentials, internal references, or proprietary information before submission
- ☐ Provide accurate and complete information when creating accounts
- ☐ Maintain professional GitHub profiles
Compliance Requirements
- ☐ Accept and sign the Microsoft Contributor License Agreement (CLA) as required
- ☐ Follow the repository's Code of Conduct
- ☐ Engage respectfully with the community
- ☐ Maintain security of GitHub accounts through 2FA and secure password practices
Ongoing Responsibilities
- ☐ Respond promptly to any security concerns or content removal requests from repository maintainers
- ☐ Understand that submissions may be used to evaluate projects using the published judging rubric
- ☐ Acknowledge that Microsoft may delete, modify, or remove submissions that violate these terms without prior notice
- ☐ Contributors remain responsible for all activity under their accounts
Enforcement and Content Removal
Microsoft reserves the right to monitor, review, and remove content from this repository to ensure compliance with these terms.
Grounds for Content Removal
Repository maintainers may remove content that:
- Contains confidential information
- Violates intellectual property rights
- Includes prohibited materials
- Poses security risks
- Breaches the Code of Conduct
Consequences for Violations
Contributors found violating these terms may face:
- ⚠️ Immediate content removal without notice
- ⚠️ Disqualification from hackathon evaluation and prizes
- ⚠️ Revocation of repository access and organization membership
- ⚠️ Reporting to appropriate authorities for serious violations
Contact
If you have questions about this disclaimer or need to report a security concern:
- Security Issues: Please report via GitHub Security Advisories
- General Questions: Open an issue in this repository
- Content Removal Requests: Open an issue with the
content-removallabel
This disclaimer is subject to change. Contributors are responsible for reviewing the latest version before each submission.
Last updated: April 2026