The old strategy series Star Control has found itself embroiled in a legal battle, as current license holders Stardock bicker with the former development team for the rights of the franchise.
According to Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III -- creators of Star Control II -- Stardock has only the rights to the title and not its universe, which would theoretically allow the duo to create a game set in the Star Control universe as long as it had a different name.
Stardock Announces Star Control: Origins
In a blog post, Ford and Reiche argue that Stardock doesn't own the full rights yet is stopping them from working on the new game, Ghosts of the Precursors.
Stardock on their part answered back, "disappointed that Paul and Fred, two people [they] have a great deal of respect and admiration for, have chosen to imply that [they] are somehow preventing them from working on their new game".
According to Stardock, the aliens present in the original IP do not belong them, and the publisher has zero issue with them using it for whatever means. The Michigan company goes one step further and states all of this as "a clear and irrefutable document that makes it clear that [Stardock] are not associated or involved with [Ford and Reiche's] new game".
