Programming prizes on the rise: The risks of entering

[mouser]

From a discussion on slashdot today comes this article outlining some of the risks to programmers if they enter programming contests, mostly in terms of losing control of their creations:

This raises questions about the fairness of programming contests in general, particularly in the current economic climate. Contests like the Netflix Prize are sponsored by commercial entities that stand to profit from the innovations produced by the entrants. Those who participate invest valuable time toward winning the prize, but if they fail to meet the deadline (or to produce the leading results) their efforts could go completely unrewarded. Depending on the terms of the contest, however, the sponsor might still be able to make use of the runners-up's innovations -- which, of course, would be a whole lot cheaper than hiring developers...

http://infoworld.com...e-risks-entering-664

from http://developers.sl...Programming-Contests

[rxantos]

This not only true of programming contest, but design contest.

Several years ago (in the 80s) a civil engineer friend entered an attraction blueprint contest sponsored by Disney. He did not won, but they use his blueprints to make an attraction anyway, without paying him nothing, or even placing a plaque or something that he could use to say, I made the blueprints of this. The catch as that when entering the contest he didn't notice in the small print that ALL enterings became property of Disney.

The lesson here, be sure to read the fine print before entering a contest.