Richard Garriott has said he expects to get Ultima copyrights back from Electronic Arts in 2027 by using a U.S. termination right that is often described as a “35-year” rule. GamesRadar reported that expectation on October 7, 2026. It is a stated plan, not a completed transfer, and the statute does not return rights to anyone automatically once 35 years have passed.
The rule is 17 U.S.C. §203. It lets an author end certain grants he or she made, but only inside a defined window, only after written notice that meets statutory timing, and only for the grants and works the statute covers. Whether Ultima fits depends on documents that have not been published: the grants themselves, their exact execution dates, and who legally counts as the author of each work. Garriott’s description that the process costs nothing reflects the absence of a purchase price in his account. It does not describe the legal and administrative steps involved.
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What Garriott said, and what is reported
In an interview with Jesse Petrilla, Garriott described the law this way, as quoted by GamesRadar:
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That is a layperson’s summary. It leaves out the notice, timing, and eligibility conditions that decide whether the statute applies at all. GamesRadar also reports that Garriott sold Origin Systems to EA in 1992 along with the Ultima rights, and that he has kept working on Ultima games since. Those are report-attributed details. The reporting does not reproduce the underlying agreements, so the exact scope of what changed hands in 1992 cannot be confirmed from it.
The same report describes possible early-game relaunches or sequels if the rights question resolves in Garriott’s favor. Treat these as prospective ideas. No release has been announced, and nothing in the reporting shows that every game, contribution, trademark, or franchise asset would move with the copyrights.
The 35-year figure opens a window; it does not return rights
The Copyright Office’s explanatory material from 2000 describes termination as a safeguard for authors against transfers that turned out to be unremunerative, and notes that the right applies only in specified contexts. The statute text, as published by the U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, sets those contexts out in detail.
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Which grants fall under §203
Section 203 covers grants of copyright that an author made on or after January 1, 1978, other than by will, for works that are not works made for hire. Grants executed before that date are governed by earlier law and fall outside §203. The statute uses the word “terminate.” It does not say rights “revert” on their own schedule. Termination has to be exercised through the procedure.
When the five-year window opens
The window’s start depends on what the grant covers. The statute uses two different starting points:
| Grant type | When the five-year termination window opens | What must be known |
|---|---|---|
| Grant that does not cover publication rights | At the end of 35 years from the date the grant was executed | The exact execution date, not only the year |
| Grant that covers publication rights | At the end of 35 years from publication under the grant, or 40 years from execution, whichever ends earlier | Both the execution date and the publication date |
Once the window opens, it runs for five years. If no termination takes effect within it, the grant continues.
Notice, signatures, and recordation
- The written notice must state an effective date that falls inside the applicable five-year window.
- It must be served on the grantee or the grantee’s successor in title no less than two and no more than ten years before that effective date.
- A copy must be recorded with the U.S. Copyright Office before the effective date.
- The statute sets signature rules for who must sign and how termination interests are exercised. Where a grant was signed by more than one author, a majority of those who signed it generally must join.
What a 2027 result would require
A simple example shows why the year matters. If a grant that does not cover publication rights was executed on a particular day in 1992, its window would open on the 35th anniversary of that day in 2027. A publication-rights grant can start on a different date, depending on when the work was published under the grant and whether 40 years from execution comes first.
The notice rule creates a hard constraint. A notice for a 2027 effective date would have had to be served roughly between 2017 and 2025, because it must come at least two years and at most ten years before the effective date. As of October 2026, a notice not served by 2025 cannot produce a 2027 effective date. A notice served now could still support a termination later in the five-year window. The reporting does not say whether any notice has been served.
Establishing the claim would require checking the following:
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- Identify each grant signed by Garriott or by Origin, with its exact execution date.
- Determine whether each grant covers publication rights, because that changes the window’s starting point.
- Confirm the legal author of each work and whether it was made for hire.
- Locate any termination notice, its service date, and its stated effective date.
- Confirm that a copy was recorded with the Copyright Office before the effective date.
- Identify EA’s position on each grant and any resulting dispute.
Authorship decides whether §203 applies at all
Works made for hire
Section 203 excludes works made for hire. If Ultima games were written by employees working within the scope of their jobs, the company that employed them may be the legal author, and an author-based termination would not reach those works. Whether any individual title was a work made for hire depends on who did the work and under what arrangement. The reporting does not address that.
Multiple contributors
Ultima had many contributors. Where a work has more than one author, the statute’s majority rule applies to the grant’s signatories. Garriott’s personal interest alone may not be enough to terminate a grant that other authors also signed.
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Derivative works
Under §203(b)(1), a derivative work prepared under the grant before termination may continue to be used on the grant’s terms after termination. New derivative works may not be prepared under the terminated grant. In practice, existing adaptations and ports made before termination may stay in use even if the underlying copyright returns.
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Copyright is not the whole franchise
Section 203 concerns copyright. The Ultima name, logos, and other marks are governed by trademark law, and a copyright termination does not return them. Within a game, code, art, music, and writing can each have different authors and different grant histories. The reporting does not establish which Ultima assets would be covered by a successful termination.
What “costs nothing” leaves out
Garriott’s account suggests that no purchase price is involved in recovering the rights. The process itself is still a legal procedure. A notice must be drafted and served, a copy must be recorded, and any disagreement with EA would have to be resolved. The reporting does not address recording fees, legal costs, or the expense of a contested claim, so those costs are not established here.
Signals that would change the picture
- A termination notice appearing in Copyright Office records, showing its effective date and the grants it names.
- A statement from Garriott or EA identifying the specific works, grants, or effective date involved.
- An announced game or project that depends on the rights, which would show the claim has moved beyond expectation.
Until one of these appears, the 2027 outcome remains Garriott’s expectation, and the legal analysis above describes the conditions it would have to meet.
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