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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 8360762" data-attributes="member: 6802765">We don't know their original intent, and even if the original intent was not nefarious, we (and even current employees/management at DDB) can't know whether DDB (or any future acquiring company or bankruptcy trustee) would stick to that original intent. All we know for sure is that DDB ran a contest with terms that allowed it to, at any point in the future, unilaterally exploit the artists who submitted non-winning entries by using its licenses to the submitted work for commercial gain without compensation to the artists.And that's on top of the separate issue where a contest format where the organizer retains usage rights distorts the paid market for that type of art. Even if only the winning entries are used and the prizes are suitable compensation for the winners (unlikely in this case, since the prizes were non-resaleable digital licenses on which the winner would owe taxes, causing the winners to lose cash flow), such contests shift the art market away from commissions/employment and towards spec work, which is structurally disadvantageous for the artists.</blockquote>