Dec. 27, 2018) is a legal case that led to a settlement confirming an intellectual property split for the Star Control series of games.

Accolade allowed their copyright license to expire and revert to Reiche and Ford, who re-released Star Control II as The Ur-Quan Masters.

In late 2018, Stardock's request for an injunction against a copyright takedown was denied by Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong.

Steam and GOG.com removed the games from their stores, but restored Origins after Stardock agreed to accept responsibility for any potential infringement.

[23] This was triggered by a contractual clause when the games were no longer generating royalties, allowing the copyrighted content to revert to Reiche and Ford.

[24][25] As the games were no longer available in stores, Reiche and Ford wanted to keep their work in the public eye, to maintain an audience for a potential sequel.

[26][14] This led them to remake Star Control II as The Ur-Quan Masters,[27] which they released in 2002 as a free download under an open source copyright license.

[42] Through email, Stardock asked Reiche and Ford for a license to use their character designs, but the duo repeatedly declined.

[16][23] By 2016, Stardock described Origins as an alternative timeline in the same Star Control multiverse, but with none of the older games' characters,[26] to avoid infringing on Reiche and Ford's copyrighted lore.

[31][39] Despite Stardock's continued offers, Reiche and Ford declined to collaborate on Origins, citing a desire to create their own sequel once they finished their ongoing projects with Activision.

[26][1] In October 2017, Stardock began selling the older Star Control games via the Steam store, as a promotion for Origins.

[1][45] Despite private negotiations, Stardock declined to stop selling the games, leading Reiche and Ford to formally request that Steam remove the original series from their store via a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice.

[45] Also in October, Reiche and Ford announced Ghosts of the Precursors as a direct sequel to Star Control II.

[48] By December 1, Reiche and Ford announced that Stardock had not negotiated their legal permissions, and that "our games' universe has absolutely no connection, hyper-dimensional or otherwise".

[1] Stardock further contended that Reiche and Ford were not the creators of Star Control, and were misleading consumers about their involvement in the series.

These trademark applications included names of alien races from the original Star Control, and the mark The Ur-Quan Masters.

Indeed, not only has Wardell failed to establish any such expertise, but his opinion as to whether the work in question is "copyrightable" constitutes an improper legal conclusion.

[62] Reiche and Ford defended the DMCA takedown requests by pointing out that the substantial similarities between Origins and Star Control II were evidence of intentional copying, in violation of copyright.