Fred and Paul don't own the Star Control Trademark -- or at least not until the lawyers and courts figure out if it expired.
You claim that you own the Star Control trademark.
You claim that your goal is for this community to make games without an "external trademark source enforcing their rights".
Can the community rename Ur Quan Masters to Star Control 2 yet?
If the community has a consensus that they want that, I am sure Stardock would be willing to discuss it.
That comment makes me hopeful.
In the back of my head, I still worry about motive. This project exists thanks to the generosity of Paul and Fred releasing the source code, which means they'd be party to the negotiations. So it becomes a question of whether you'd offer the TM, or if you'd attach a lot of strings, taking us back to your ongoing legal dispute.
Either way, it's a nice little dream.
So, the concern is the future of the UQM. Our long-term goal is for the UQM community to be set up as an independent, open-source destination for creating stories without interference. If that's for Star Control, great. If it's for Ghosts of the Precursors, that's fine too. What we don't want is a scenario where Star Control is legally blocked by an external trademark source enforcing their rights.
First, and most importantly, you're trying to take over the ownership of the name of our project. Without consulting us first. That's not very friendly.
Second, it's not clear that you have any right to do so. We've been using this name for over fifteen years, and my understanding of trademark (though I am not a lawyer) is that you can't just take a name that someone else is actively using and register it after the fact.
Third, saying that "Ur-Quan Masters" could be a legally-blocking issue for "Star Control" only makes sense if you are intending to use the Ur-Quan in your games, which is something that you had previously disavowed.
So, if you want an open-source repository into which Star Control code could be donated under an appropriate open-source license, I think we're all for that, and would be happy to help out. But you don't need a trademark for that, and trying to register one makes it look like you are seeking a level of control or ownership over this community that I think many here would see as unwelcome. I'd strongly encourage you to pursue your goals by engaging this community, rather than by legal maneuvers.
EDIT: I see that Paul R. did file to register this same trademark yesterday. I would welcome a clarification as to his intent, though for now I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt here, and assume that his action was prompted by your own. I think the same argument about post-facto registration applies to him as well, but realize that he does have some banked credit here, as it was his gratis donation of the code that allowed this community to form in the first place.
Also, is the Ultima trademark owner currently trying to build something new under the Ultima trademark?
As far as I can tell, Ultima Online is still available for purchase from EA. Does that count?
Nope. Star Control 1 and Star Control 2 have also been for sale (GoG), and I think Steam still has them online, or at least Stardock said they're pushing to keep them online.
The trademark owner of Ultima has not announced anything being under development, AFAIK.
So the situation is different.
EA does not seem to have a vested commercial interest in keeping others away from their trademark RIGHT NOW.
Their leniency to accept "fair use" will likely be much larger than in an alternate universe where EA is currently developing a new Ultima game under the trademark.
Welcome to the forum. I think you'll fit in.
Um, I think you quoted the wrong person here, because your post has nothing to do with mine.