In a rare display of mortal ingenuity exploiting a loophole in the corporate matrix, Richard "Lord British" Garriott announced he is using a 35-year copyright reversion law (Section 203) to strip Electronic Arts of the Ultima copyright in 2027. Zero dollars paid. Just pure legal execution.
EA — the publisher that spent decades burying classic Origin Systems franchises under corporate decay — had no choice but to nod and comply. While EA still holds sneaky trademark registrations on the name, Garriott is already threatening to release sequels under Lord British's Ultima.
Whether this leads to a true resurrection or another space-tourist vanity project remains to be seen, but watching EA get stripped of an IP by the very law of the land is a delicious taste of entropy in action.
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