‘Elite Dangerous RPG’ Kickstarter Reinstated After Complaining Party Failed To Back Copyright Infringement Accusation

Just last month, the Kickstarter campaign for the “Elite Dangerous” pen-and-paper role-playing game was put on hold after it got slapped with a copyright infringement claim. Today, fans of the upcoming game can rejoice after the crowdfunding effort got reinstated.

On Tuesday, the Kickstarter page for Spidermind Games and Oliver Hulme’s cut-throat space exploration RPG went live once again after the public-benefit corporation reinstated it due to the fact that the copyright complaint against it was going nowhere. Eurogamer even says the complaint is already dead since the complainant did not provide evidence proving that there had been a breach.

In mid-February, the developers of the game were left worrying for the “Elite Dangerous RPG’s” fate when its crowdfunding project was put in limbo even though it already managed to earn £65,000 — £20,000 more than its initial goal — from backers. At the time, Spidermind received an email from Kickstarter that a copyright complaint was filed against its new game.

The complainant was identified to be Chris Jordan, who is a long-time associate of Ian Bell — David Braben’s co-creator in the original “Elite” game, which was released in 1984. Jordan accused the U.K.-based company of “commercially exploiting” Bell’s work, although Bell himself was in no way involved in the copyright infringement issue.

“When Kickstarter got in touch with us telling us there had been this accusation of a copyright infringement, they sent in the email two choices as to what we could do,” the producer of the new “Elite Dangerous RPG” Jon Lunn told Eurogamer.

Lunn continued that they pondered upon the options Kickstarter suggested to them: A. to just accept that there had been a breach and just come up with a statement that they had already corrected it, or B. to ask the complaining party to cite or provide proof that they did breach something and that the latter has taken legal action because of it.

When Spidermind chose the second option, Kickstarter gave Jordan 10 days to provide proof that he has already taken legal action because of the breach. However, Jordan failed to do so and has since been mum on the issue. Therefore, Kickstarter reinstated the campaign.

The campaign is closing this Wednesday, March 8, but it has already reached over £82,000 pledges from 1,144 backers as of writing. This just means fans can expect the all-new “Elite Dangerous” game to arrive later this year.

“‘Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game’ (EDRPG) is an interactive adventure you share with a group of friends. It is set in a futuristic galaxy in which spaceflight is common, amazing technology is freely available, and danger is everywhere. As a player you will own your own spacecraft and travel to fantastic locations, exploring new worlds, defeating deadly enemies and outwitting powerful opponents who will stop at nothing to destroy you,” the official description of the game reads.