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Stardock and the two creators of the original Star Control game series have agreed this week to resolve the legal dispute over ownership of the franchise and its intellectual property.
In the statements made by both parties, the former adversaries will now collaborate to produce new stories and new content for future Star Control games, as well as downloadable content for the existing game. Star Control Origins.
Fred Ford and Paul Reiche, who designed Star Control and Star Control 2 for Accolade in 1990 and 1992, had claimed copyright in the classic science fiction and strategy, and Stardock claimed ownership of the brands. The two men went on trial in late 2017 and early 2018, calling Stardock Ford and the proposed Reiche candidate. Ghosts of the precursors – billed as a direct result to Star Control 2 – a trademark infringement. In 2013, two creators challenged Stardock's purchase of the franchise from Atari's bankruptcy. Ford and Reiche also claimed that the Stardock brand was fictitious, a duplicate filed by Infogrames (renamed Atari) in 2003.
But in the agreement announced on June 11, the parties have decided that Reiche and Ford are calling "honestly and truly an amicable settlement". Reiche said that he had called Stardock Corporation's general manager, Brad Wardell (recognizing that Wardell had asked them to do it earlier). and both solved the problem.
It is a sacred burial of litigation for a trial which began in a very personal way, in a very conflictual way. The initial Stardock lawsuit disavowed the real contribution of both developers to the creation of the series; Reiche and Ford had used their property claim to have GoG.com's original games removed, and finally to get Star Control: Origins removed from this market and steam, soon returning to steam. Stardock called this an abuse of the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (generally considered to be a grounding application to YouTube, Steam or another copyrighted material provider).
The terms of the settlement have not been made public, but both parties are free to discuss them. "We understood what we wanted in a few hours of discussion," Wardell said in a statement Star Control: Origins& # 39; official site. "The rest of the time, the lawyers forged the exact verbiage and atrociously accurate. It took a lot longer. Usually, these things claim to be friendly, but it's just the two sides who are trying to make things happen. In this case, it was really amicable. "
The legal process was so deep that the agreement even contained "a section in which I will work with Paul on beekeeping," Wardell said. "He will send me mead, I will send him honey." Wardell has experience in this business during his free time.
Reiche, for his part, said he had always wanted to try raising bees to make his own mead. This opened a conversation in which both realized that "we do not like fighting, but we like to create," said Reiche. "Can we go off the beaten track and settle our dispute with positive and creative actions rather than continue to beat us up?"
Reiche said that "no money has changed hands" and that Stardock "will create new games in the Star Control franchise. Paul & Fred will create new games in the Ur-Quan Masters franchise[or[where[où[whereGhosts of the precursors is set]. "
To differentiate the two, Reiche "s volunteered to create some new extraterrestrial breeds for origin, "Reiche wrote, while" Brad offered to help Fred and Paul with the technology. "More to the interests of the fans,"Star Control, Stellar Control 2 and Star Control 3 Stardock will come back for sale. The two parties will share the royalties equally.
Ford and Reiche have provided more details on the resolution, but the settlement seems to be as complete and as good as it has been described. Star Control: Origins, which was launched in 2018, is available for Windows PC on Steam and GoG.com. Wardell said his first expansion, Earth Rising, was due to take place later this fall, while Stardock and Reiche started working on a new Star Control game at that time.
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