 On September 24, 1999, Odyssey of the Mind Association, Inc. (the non-profit group responsible for holding international creative-thinking competitions), and Creative Competitions, Inc. (the company holding intellectual property of support materials), reached an agreement wherein Creative Competitions would retain intellectual property rights and both organizations would sponsor separate creative competitions.During the dispute, some Odyssey volunteers formed another problem-solving organization, Destination Imagination, because they feared the legal dispute would hold up the year's competition.Destination Imagination subsequently merged with OM Association "to help unify [its] volunteers and make (our group) the pre-eminent world-class problem-solving program for students," according to then-OM Association Executive Director Robert Purifico.