Star Control: origins

Memnoch

M
Where does that leave those of us that bought it via Steam I wonder? Can they force Valve to remove it from my accounts? If I get my money back at least that would be the line for me.

EDIT: Looks like we keep it. I had an update available that wasn't here yesterday, which had me a little worried! :)

I hope they get this sorted soon, for both parties.

Believe it or not there is now a crowdfunding campaign for the defence fund for against the crowdfunded game.

https://uk.gofundme.com/help-fred-amp-paul-save-the-universe

Does Chris Roberts have a hand in this, by any chance?
 
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Dbrn47

Dbrn47
Aside from having those rights, were they ever going to make another Star Control game or just sit on the IP like a lot of people/companies do?
 

Zieman

Zieman
Dbrn47 said:
Aside from having those rights, were they ever going to make another Star Control game or just sit on the IP like a lot of people/companies do?
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Not sure anymore if they published they're working on a real sequel before or after Stardock's announcement of 'Origins'.
But 'Ghost of the Precursors' is/was on the works.
https://www.dogarandkazon.com/

Personally I view Stardock's actions as shameful, even if they might have been considered legitimate in some way.
http://www.star-control.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1269
 

Memnoch

M
Jenner said:
Fred and Paul on why they issued the DMCA claim:

https://www.dogarandkazon.com/blog/2019/1/2/injunction-junction-court-instruction

TL;DR
Fred and Paul content that Stardock are copying their trademarked IP from Star Control II in Origins and that Stardock knowingly did so despite ongoing trademark dispute and pending litigation.
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From what I have read on Steam, they have not outline exactly what has been infringed upon. Other than the name "Star Control" none of the races from SC2 are in there so what exactly is being used without their explicit permission?
 

Jenner

I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
Jenner
Memnoch said:
From what I have read on Steam, they have not outline exactly what has been infringed upon. Other than the name "Star Control" none of the races from SC2 are in there so what exactly is being used without their explicit permission?
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Game mechanics and art I guess. See their blog post as they have one example of hyperspace mechanics between Origins and SC2 that they believe is infringing on their IP.
 

jasonbarron

jasonbarron
Dbrn47 said:
Aside from having those rights, were they ever going to make another Star Control game or just sit on the IP like a lot of people/companies do?
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The licence was languishing in a laundry bin somewhere gathering lint, until Stardock came along and spent a pile of cash to buy the license in an auction (reportedly 300k-400k) dusted it off and started doing something with it. Then those two guys decided that they were suddenly going to do something with it, so tough luck Stardock, looks like you bought a worthless piece of paper basically.
 

Dbrn47

Dbrn47
Zieman said:
Not sure anymore if they published they're working on a real sequel before or after Stardock's announcement of 'Origins'.
But 'Ghost of the Precursors' is/was on the works.
https://www.dogarandkazon.com/

Personally I view Stardock's actions as shameful, even if they might have been considered legitimate in some way.
http://www.star-control.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1269
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Yea, it probably is, I just sort of roll my eyes when people/companies go copyright happy over things they weren't doing anything with, like they're Nintendo or EA. Imagine if Elite Dangerous never happened because of the same reason. We'd be out a great game for no reason. Anyway, if the IP owners were indeed creating something new, it's a different story for me.

jasonbarron said:
The licence was languishing in a laundry bin somewhere gathering lint, until Stardock came along and spent a pile of cash to buy the license in an auction (reportedly 300k-400k) dusted it off and started doing something with it. Then those two guys decided that they were suddenly going to do something with it, so tough luck Stardock, looks like you bought a worthless piece of paper basically.
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That's the sort of story that makes me roll my eyes. Too many dead IPs over the years because people/companies won't let someone else take the reins.

Stigbob said:
Is controversial drama a compulsory component of space games now ?.
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Nah, just games, not specific to space.
 

milligna

milligna
That's the sort of story that makes me roll my eyes. Too many dead IPs over the years because people/companies won't let someone else take the reins.
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Yeah how dare creators get possessive about their creations. I know when I spend years and years of my life working on creating something new, it's generally so scumbags like Brad Wardell can benefit.
 
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jasonbarron

jasonbarron
milligna said:
Yeah how dare creators get possessive about their creations. I know when I spend years and years of my life working on creating something new, it's generally so scumbags like Brad Wardell can benefit.
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Sounds like you're taking it pretty personally. Are you Fred or Paul, or are you just empathizing from personal experience?
 
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Memnoch

M
Jenner said:
Game mechanics and art I guess. See their blog post as they have one example of hyperspace mechanics between Origins and SC2 that they believe is infringing on their IP.
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If you mean that link that shows SC2, SC3 and SCO as a comparison table, then they use the word "hyperspace" as the description and that's it.

What that table is really attempting to do is to show the differences between SC3 and the other two games as a way to bolster how similar SC2 and SCO are.

Like "Moving into "holes" in space automatically takes you to the star system....as does Deathwar 3030: Redux.

When you are reduced to including things like radar, which a lot of space games have, and using the music by "Riku N.", which I assume were used both times with the permission of Riku, it looks increasingly desperate to form these connections.

I have no stake in this at all, and actually find the game a little stale compared to the stellar Deathwar 3030, so these are just my opinions.

My favourite was about enabling an autopilot to take you to a destination star which apparently means IP infringement. Can you copyright a colour like red? Give me a break.

Just imagine if Ambrosia Software had attempted to stomp on any number of EV: Nova clones that are out there right now...
 
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Dbrn47

Dbrn47
milligna said:
Yeah how dare creators get possessive about their creations. I know when I spend years and years of my life working on creating something new, it's generally so scumbags like Brad Wardell can benefit.
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No reason to let an IP die over pride or greed when there's a demand for more and it doesn't have a story ending written in stone like a series of books would. Again, imagine if David Braben would have just held on to the Elite license, not allowing anything else to be created from it. Sure, his right, but boy would that have sucked for us. *shrug I wouldn't have a problem with someone else carrying on with my work if I wasn't willing to, might want a cut of course, but why let it die?
 
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Jenner

I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
Jenner
Interesting take on the the DMCA action here:
[video=youtube;Ieb1ajwwUFo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieb1ajwwUFo[/video]

The TL;DR is that Stardock tried to prevent Fred and Paul from issuing a DMCA takedown notice during this litigation (arguing that it constituted an injunction against Stardock), and the Court denided it. The judge basically told Stardock that they didn't have a leg to stand on as far as the DMCA stuff was concerned, and that any economic or reputation peril they're in now due to Origins not being for sale is entirely their own fault as they knew for a long time that there was an IP dispute ongoing.

The sentiment I get listening to the court document being read is that the judge is sympathetic to a lot of what Fred and Paul are saying, although the actual trial is yet to occur. We'll see what happens.
 
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