The creators of the Star Control game series Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III may be legally banned from working on the Ghost of the Precursors project, which continues the ideas of the original Star Control.
This development was caused by a conflict between the developers and Stardock Systems, which owns the rights to the Star Control franchise since 2013.
The fact is that this year Stardock is releasing its own project Star Control: Origins, which should restart the space strategy game series.
Star Control: Origins
Recall that Ford and Reiche sued Stardock last December after they warned them about copyright infringement due to the presence in Ghost of the Precursors of a number of names and titles present in Star Control.
The position of Ford and Reiche III
According to the developers’ blog, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche tried to negotiate with Stardock, but for some reason the negotiations reached an impasse. In February of this year, Stardock filed a counterclaim.
According to the developers, Stardock agrees to settle the conflict on the following conditions:
- transfer of all rights to the original Star Control series;
- promise not to develop titles similar to Star Control in the next 5 years;
- public apologies;
- payment of $225 thousand.;
- promise never to use certain terms and trademarks;
- a promise never to challenge Stardock’s rights to the Star Control franchise, as well as to give up the right to call themselves the authors of the original series;
Stardock position
Kevin Unangst, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Stardock, said that Ford and Reiche “distorted the text of the settlement offer” sent to them on behalf of the company.
He stressed that he has no right to disclose the contents of this document verbatim, since the data in it are confidential. Nevertheless, according to Anganst, Stardock initially offered Ford and Reiche the following:
- Stardock will review the description of the game Ghost of the Precursors for copyright infringement;
- the releases of Ghost of the Precursors and Star Control: Origins must be separated by at least 90 days;
- neither party should interfere with the sales and promotion of the other party’s product;
- Stardock reserves the right to use alien races from the original games.
The developers rejected this offer, after which Stardock decided to file a counter-lawsuit.
Also on the topic:
- The creators of Star Control dispute Stardock’s rights to the franchise
- GOG Resumes Star Control Sale after Rights Dispute
Source: Game Industry