Page 16 of the judges ruling:
"Obviously the Marvel Method gave an artist greater opportunity for input into the process of creating the characters and stories.  However even under the Marvel Method the artists did not work on spec; "they only began to draw pages" when they received an assignment, and plot synopsis from Lee. Furthermore the artists were always constrained by Lee's plot outlines.  Lee used the Marvel Method from the time he created it until he became Marvel's publisher in the early 70's."