Overview
- Richard Garriott told reporters on Saturday that a U.S. '35-year' termination right could let him recover the copyright to the Ultima series he sold to EA in 1992 as early as 2027.
- The legal mechanism is a statutory termination of a prior copyright grant that lets creators or their heirs reclaim certain works after 35 years if the formal procedures are followed.
- Garriott and coverage stress the split between copyright and trademark rights so any revival would be limited by EA's reported ownership of the Ultima trademark.
- Garriott has suggested workarounds such as a title like 'Lord British's Ultima' and said he will offer more details at Dragon Con in September, but no deal or product has been confirmed.
- EA continues to operate and update Ultima Online through Broadsword, and observers note both market appetite for deep CRPGs and reasons for caution given Garriott's recent controversies and the practical limits of reclaiming only copyright.