Star Control: Origins - Star Control reboot from Stardock

[Atlantico]

Lawsuits in Kwa? Perhaps not shocking news, but the brave new world of digital distribution mixed with the DMCA makes it a lot spicier.

While there's a lawsuit going on between the two parties, on IP dispute and related issues, that in and of itself would never have been able to demand stores from removing products from their shelves - not until the matter had been settled in court and damages awarded or dismissed.

But now, everything is digitally distributed, and companies (led by our Google overlords) have decided that the most prudent thing to do, when faced with a DMCA takedown request, is to overreact. And that's probably true, from their perspective - either way, that's become standard practice for everyone, not just Youtube/Google. They will not bother to look into the merits of the DMCA claim, in other words.

Without the DMCA, these parties could have had their spat, sperged on social media, made all their public claims, and then settled in court, one way or another - as will inevitably be the result in this case - the difference is, that one party decided to involve customers directly by using the DMCA takedown option.

The thing is, using the DMCA takedown option changes nothing for the result of the dispute.

If anything, it's a monumentally stupid move, since the party using it creates an added liability should they lose and because of depressed sales during the DMCA takedown, less revenue to claim should they win - and on top of that, they involve current and future customers in their dispute.

To sum up, the DMCA takedown results in two outcomes, both bad for the plaintiff:

- in the case of a loss, added liability for the plaintiff and annoyed customers
- in the case of a win, reduced revenue for the plaintiff and annoyed customers

Certainly this hurts Stardock as well, but this is cutting off one's nose to spite the face. Were I their lawyer, I'd have advised strongly against this.

That timeline irrevocably eviscerates stardick in no uncertain terms. There is no way that stardick can win the lawsuit with that timeline in place.

Cael vehemently sperging against Brad Wardell and Stardock, just like all the anti-Gamergate SJWs, not contributing anything to this discussion other than "Stardick lol".
While predictably low effort retardation one has come to expect from that particular cognitive black hole, it's also creativity beyond what his retarded mind can be expected come up with, so I assume it's stolen.

To put this another way, Cael's posts itt would be favorably rated on shitfests like the Arstechnica forums and Resetera. Classy.

 

[LESS T_T]

Hey it's back:



https://steamcommunity.com/app/271260/discussions/1/1742231705656951047/

STAR CONTROL LIVES!

Stardock and Valve are happy to report that Star Control: Origins is back on Steam!

For those of you who have the game already we encourage you to review it as we took some review bombing recently.

Please spread the word!

I can't see any bombing on the review graph.

 

[Mustawd]

A DMCA notice is only a notice to the Service Provider that copyright infringement is present. However, it’s up to Steam and GOG to make that determination. If they choose to ignore a DMCA notice they can lose liability protection and can in turn be sued.However, if they felt the grounds are baseless, as Dexter seems to think so, then they can simply side with Stardick.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

It's not back on GOG at the time of this post.

Though it might be correct to point out that all supplementary purchases related to SC:O are still active on GOG... so with the possible exception of the soundtrack you're free to waste money on DLCs and such that will be useless until the base game is returned to the store.

Trust a potato to get the job done, but don't trust a potato to get the job done proper.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Perhaps decision to put game back on the store was done by Steam alone (after they consulted with lawyers).

 

[LESS T_T]

A DMCA notice is only a notice to the Service Provider that copyright infringement is present. However, it’s up to Steam and GOG to make that determination. If they choose to ignore a DMCA notice they can lose liability protection and can in turn be sued.However, if they felt the grounds are baseless, as Dexter seems to think so, then they can simply side with Stardick.

Heh:

Any comments on how you got back on Steam? Will the game return to GOG soon?

Nothing I can discuss publicly unfortunately. Other than to say that the dispute is Stardock/GOG/Valve on one side and Reiche and Ford on the other.

I guess it will be back on GOG soon.

 

[Zombra]

Hahaha. Would love to see R&F try to take on Valve in court.

 

[Mustawd]

Hahaha. Would love to see R&F try to take on Valve in court.

Umm..they don’t need to?

They’d need to win their copyright suit against Stardock. I doubt Valve/GoG would give a fuck after that. Shit would get pulled p. quick.

 

[Zombra]

Hahaha. Would love to see R&F try to take on Valve in court.

Umm..they don’t need to?
They’d need to win their copyright suit against Stardock. I doubt Valve/GoG would give a fuck after that. Shit would get pulled p. quick.

If what Wardell just tweeted is true - that Valve is on their side - it really does change the complexion of the battlefield. You're suggesting it's flatly untrue.

 

[Cael]

You're also putting a lot of faith in the words of a known liar, who literally said "The Copyright Holders of Star Control II did not actually create any of the stuff they have copyrighted" which is a big fucking red flag. The average play time is 6 hours, and only 14% of the people who bought the game finished it. I guess he got Gamergatebux, but Brad Wardell's claims are highly suspect.

Drug addicts are like that. They will believe anything so long as they get their fix. And there is nothing worse than a junkie forced to go cold turkey for decades against their will and then is given drugs.

 

[ADL]

If what Wardell just tweeted is true - that Valve is on their side - it really does change the complexion of the battlefield. You're suggesting it's flatly untrue.

Valve's stance is likely "we'd like to see a resolution to this matter so we can sell your game again". Beyond that, I highly doubt it.
Also I don't trust a goddamn word that comes out of Wardell's mouth.

 

[Zombra]

You're putting a lot of faith

Who, me? When did I ever say his word is gospel?

 

[Cael]

You're putting a lot of faith

Who, me? When did I ever say his word is gospel?

If you believe anything Wardell says or even imply the possibility it's true, it's likely you're giving him too much credit.

Even the phrase "Brad Wardell is a fucking liar and is a complete psychopath but there is a .0001% chance he's right" is giving him too much credit.

So, you are saying that if stardick is a broken clock, he is a digital one?

 

[Mustawd]

You're putting a lot of faith

Who, me? When did I ever say his word is gospel?

I think what he’s saying is that the tweet likely mischaracterizes where Valve and GoG stand.

More than likely Valve and GoG do not see evidence of a valid copyright infringement or are waiting for P&R to provide some. So likely Stardock argued that they own the Star Control trademark, which they do. They probably also argued that SC Origins doesn’t contain anything from SC I and II. And seeing that this game isnt gonna make millions anytime soon, Valve probably just shrugged and took a wait and see approach. I doubt they have any kind of legal stance beyond that.

EDIT: Also, not sure how Valve and GoG handle DMCA claims, but youtube gives a conent uploader the ability to dispute a DMCA claim. They then give the. DMCA claimer 30 days to respond. During that time the content might be temporarily reinstated until the DMCA claimer responds. Sounds similar to this situation.

Granted, the company policy and type of content is different, but it’s a good example of how companies will handle DMCA claims.

After you submit your dispute, the copyright owner has 30 days to respond. During this time, the claim may be temporarily released.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797454?hl=en

 

[Unkillable Cat]

If you believe anything Wardell says or even imply the possibility it's true, it's likely you're giving him too much credit.

Even the phrase "Brad Wardell is a fucking liar and is a complete psychopath but there is a .0001% chance he's right" is giving him too much credit.

Read this.

If your statement had any truth to it, that blogger that the link mentions would never have issued an apology to Wardell.

More importantly, if your statement had any shred of fact to it, the lawsuit filed against Stardock and Wardell mentioned in that blog would not have been dismissed with prejudice.

Note that this does not mean that I believe Wardell is incapable of lying, or that he has not lied/made an erroneous statement in regards to the Star Control legal quagmire... but that is up to the courts to decide, not us.

So please shut up, we're tired of the "Stardock man bad!"-narrative.

 

[GrainWetski]

I think what he’s saying is that the tweet likely mischaracterizes where Valve and GoG stand.

More than likely Valve and GoG do not see evidence of a valid copyright infringement or are waiting for P&R to provide some. So likely Stardock argued that they own the Star Control trademark, which they do. They probably also argued that SC Origins doesn’t contain anything from SC I and II. And seeing that this game isnt gonna make millions anytime soon, Valve probably just shrugged and took a wait and see approach. I doubt they have any kind of legal stance beyond that.

EDIT: Also, not sure how Valve and GoG handle DMCA claims, but youtube gives a conent uploader the ability to dispute a DMCA claim. They then give the. DMCA claimer 30 days to respond. During that time the content might be temporarily reinstated until the DMCA claimer responds. Sounds similar to this situation.

Granted, the company policy and type of content is different, but it’s a good example of how companies will handle DMCA claims.



https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797454?hl=en

Youtube's version of "response" is literally just the claimer deciding if he wants to take down the video entirely, keep taking the revenue or stop the claim. It's the worst system ever seen and I really doubt Steam/GOG are anything like it. It's like Youtube made the most abusable system they could come up with.

 

[Dexter]

Hahaha. Would love to see R&F try to take on Valve in court.

Valve and GOG are afaik part of the lawsuit due to them selling Star Control 1+2. Both parties had lawyers on the case.

 

[Elestan]

More importantly, if your statement had any shred of fact to it, the lawsuit filed against Stardock and Wardell mentioned in that blog would not have been dismissed with prejudice.

Most settlements result in dismissals with prejudice; this is true even when one of the parties is forced into settling for reasons unrelated to the merits of their claim. A dismissal with prejudice is therefore not a determination by the court on the merits of the lawsuit, but merely a statement that the matter is closed. Legally, the effect just as final as a determination on the merits, but the Judge's role is merely to certify what the parties have stipulated.

The fact that Brad cites that dismissal to imply that the Judge found the claim against him to lack merit is, in fact, an example of the sort of misleading statement that has harmed his credibility. He knows better, but he also knows that the phrase "with prejudice" sounds like a condemnation to those not familiar with legal terminology.

I have engaged in quite a number of debates with him, and my observation is that his statements are rarely directly false, but they do need to be parsed very carefully for misleading implied assertions such as this.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

This has nothing to do with the Star Control issue.

Are you retarded, or trying to dodge an argument you can't win?

You state with absolute terms (both in the previous post and this one) that Brad Wardell is a liar and cannot be trusted. At no point did you set any limits in your statement. Therefore any evidence that points to the contrary will defeat your statement and prove you wrong.

To top it off now you're taking conjectures and theories and using them as evidence that he's a liar. You want him burned on the stake as a witch so badly that you don't care if you get burned on the stake first.

You're not qualified to be part of this discussion. Go away.

 

[DeepOcean]

Let me see if I understood, original Star Control creators claim they have the right for the Star Control name because they are "making" a star control game and they are the creators then Bradell bought the name from the copyright owner but only the name so the star control creators cant use the name star control because Bradell owns it. Bradell then releases a cheap shovelware shitty space game as he is used doing on steam but then the creators want the game pulled from steam?

Of course, there is no evidence that the creators will actually:
1)Make a game
2)Said game will actually be better than Bradell's game.

I don't know who is the worst imbecile, Bradell for trying that dumb brand recognition (What fuck brand recognition Star Control has after all those years?) to hide that his game is a piece of shit like all Star Dock games are or the original creators that didn't fucking anything of worthy for all this time and all of sudden they say they are going to make a competent game and want to take an actual game that was actually released out when the odds for they releasing a shovelware cash grab of equal shit quality or just plain vaporware is really alot more realistic.

I'm laughing so hard now, what a shitshow, it is entertaining at least... I guess.

 

[Infinitron]

This game might not be a new classic but it isn't shovelware or shitty.

 

[MRY]

Let me see if I understood, original Star Control creators claim they have the right for the Star Control name because they are "making" a star control game and they are the creators then Bradell bought the name from the copyright owner but only the name so the star control creators cant use the name star control because Bradell owns it.

Actually, while it's been a while since I checked in, I think their claim is that they own the content of Star Control I and II (aliens, setting, ships, etc.), not because they are making a new one but because they made the old ones and never assigned the copyrights to anyone else. What Wardell bought was not "the name form the copyright owner" but the "trademarked name from the putative trademark holder" (along with, potentially, the new content added to Star Control III). But they are also saying that any rights that were sold to Wardell had actually reverted to PR&FF (such that he bought an illusion) because the seller had failed to make required royalty payments, and the contract specified that such a failure would cause the rights to revert to PR&FF.

As for motives or the quality of the game, I have no real idea. I thought it looked pretty good.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

NO U

Please show us on this doll where Wardell touched you.

 

[Cael]

This game might not be a new classic but it isn't shovelware or shitty.

Greatt, being forgettable lukewarm unflavored soup is a bar to aim for!

NO U

Please show us on this doll where Wardell touched you.

You: here is proof wardell is not a liar
Guy: actually that mostly proves he likes to mislead people
You: *ignores previous post*
Me: the post above yours makes yuyr claim to Wardell's integrity a bunch of bullshit...
You: WOOOW DID WARDELL MOLEST YOU OR SOMETHING????

This, gentlemen, is how retards amd liars operate. He will never produce evidence of sufficient amount that proves Wardell is not a liar, the slam dunk evidence he provided shows he's willing to lie by omission and since he outright refuses to acknowledge it, we can safely declare that he is not interested in discusding this issue in good faith.

I dispute that. Retards are incapable of planning and executing that type of deliberate bullhorn deception. It is the act of a guy who is intelligent enough to know he is wrong and is trying desperately to cover his ass while throwing dirt and mud everywhere hoping for something to stick.

 

[Yosharian]

Yahtzee likes this game. He put it in his top 5 games of the year.