Lin, We’ve been here together for 16 years.
So let’s not be coy.
I am pretty confident that if someone burned down my house you would find a way justify the arsonist. Seriously, though, the tone of your responses marks the end of my participation. Which is probably for the best.
I’ve asked you a couple times to point out to me in the Stardock/Atari purchase agreement the relevant parts transferring any distribution rights Atari theoretically may have still had due to the 1988 agreement. You don’t seem to be able to do so (and that’s just distribution, to say nothing of IP license rights or a derivative works agreement).
That sound you just heard was a sigh of relief from your lawyers.
Brad, could you elaborate why Stardock outright refused P&F’s settlement? I want to believe you are acting in good faith, but Stardock’s settlement reads like the nuclear option and it’s not a good look. I understand that you want to make sure the past couple of months don’t repeat themselves, but couldn’t you negotiate something based on what seems to be quite agreeable points?
Oh, I trust Brad will stop posting about it about as much as Trump will stop Tweeting about Mueller.
You can read Stardock’s official responses here:
https://www.starcontrol.com/article/487690/qa-regarding-star-control-and-paul-and-fred
This Q & A gets updated as events unfold.
As for what I do and don’t discuss on QT3. Reporting on facts known by both parties that are not confidential is, unusual but also not unusual for me to discuss after one party has already made a given dispute public. It is also nothing compared to violating federal rule 408 and posting settlement communications on a blog.
Further official responses will be provided by Kevin on the link above that should answer any questions you may have.
It sure looks to me like the goal here from the start was to bully Paul and Fred into getting a sequel made and if they weren’t interested then Brad was going to do it himself. Now it’s just legal bullying instead of via emails and stalking them at a convention.
Unless there are other agreements not included with the findings, I just don’t see it. It is as unambiguous as it gets. The '95 agreement applied only to SC3, the '98 one had a) a fixed term of 3 years, b) a possibility of extending an additional 3 years. The conditions of the latter were not met as far as I can see, but it doesn’t really matter whether the contract expired in '01 or '04.
Brad, I’m coming at this from a point of view of sympathy to Stardock (I even own an original OS/2 copy of GalCiv!). You’re doing more damage to SC: Origins now than Reiche and Ford ever did by announcing their own sequel. A lot of your claims are extremely dubious, and in general the legal strategy seems to be one of burning the crops and salting the earth.
Do Paul and Fred have a legal fund? Because I’m ready to donate.
Please tell me this isn’t you pointing the lunatics from Reddit to dog pile over here.
Maybe you should take a step back from Qt3 for a period of time? Certainly, you are more involved here than most developers.
Yes, this thread is to discuss the lawsuits. However that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to basically outright admit this is a cash grab. You can attempt to justify the cash grab with verbiage about damages and that’s a fine arguement to make in court, but to tell the gaming community that you are demanding money for any reason just won’t go over well.
Any damage done by P&F’s game announcement is miniscule in comparison to the damages your actions and words have done. You are not only losing the goodwill associated with the Star Control name but you are damaging the stardock brand with this.
You really need to set your wounded ego aside and give up the cash demands and attempts to take control of F&Ps IP (attempting to trademark alien names from the original game is really beyond the pale). You appear to be personally offended, as evidenced by your claim of having been abused by P&F, and you really need to examine if your apparently personal vendetta is worth the damage you are doing to yourself and your company. You use the employees of your company as a shield and claim you are motivated by a desire to protect their livelihoods, meanwhile you are doing your best to make a segment of the gaming community spit on the ground every time the name Stardock is mentioned. You have to realize at some point how self destructive you are being with all this.
This is so true, at least from my point of view. I wouldn’t even had noticed the initial announcement if it wasn’t for the drama and outrageous (even if legally consistent) claims.
Not only isn’t that me, but I am not even sure why you would think it is. Maybe no one ever explained this to you, but if you act poorly, sometimes more than one person will arrive at the conclusion “wow, what a terrible thing that person is doing” independently.
Why on earth would you think he was addressing you? The mind boggles.
It was the first post that threaded underneath his, and if he missed that the reply was directed to Nighgaunt, it’s understandable pretty much…and shouldn’t boggle minds. Too much. :)
Yes, but it was a reply to nightgaunt and the avatar is clearly the same as nightgaunt’s. It took a lot less time to figure that out than to type the reply. Are people looking for excuses to be hostile?
The threading is subtle in the mobile web view; glad to know I misinterpreted.
I still want to donate to Fred and Paul’s legal fund, though.
Fair enough. I have no horse in the race, other than hoping to play a great game eventually.
This really is an interesting thread but not for the reasons the OP intended. It seems that if anyone has an opinion that does not fall in line with Stardock’s attorneys, Brad interprets this is a personal attack and feels the need to lash out in return. That is not a good approach.
It is of my personal belief after studying all the information that Stardock knows they bought a lemon. The rights have probably expired and I think they are fully aware of that. Their nuclear court option is an attempt to force a favorable settlement with the threat of massive damages looming over F+P’s head. It is no different than countless other deep pockets court cases where one side tries to bludgeon the other into submission. It is also better to paint yourself as a victim in such cases to minimize the fallout of being a legal bully. As distasteful as it is, that is the way the legal game is played and I harbor no ill will at this tactic.