Is Origin Origin or EA?

A

Antman

Spaceman
For a while, I have debated with myself whether or not Origin Systems is still it's own company or is part of EA. The Origin System's website's Copyright info states:

© Copyright, 2003, ORIGIN Systems, Inc. Origin, We Create Worlds, Wing Commander & ULTIMA are registered trademarks of ORIGIN Systems, Inc. AH-64D Longbow, Crusader: No Remorse and the distinctive Origin logo mark are trademarks of ORIGIN Systems, Inc. Electronic Arts is a registered trademark of Electronic Arts. Jane's is a registered trademark of Jane's Information Group, Ltd. All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

Which implies that it is it's own company, as it states they are trademarks of ORIGIN, and not EA. EA.com, however, states Origin is a trademark of EA, which would mean those trademarks are of EA. Confusing?
 
Sure looks that way

Here's a pic I've posted on the Off-Topic forum before, but seems fitting here:
 
Ultima VII was, IIRC, the last project done entirely by Origin.

Origin could never have afforded to do games like Wing 3 and 4 (or arguably any more games at all) without EA's money.
 
TopGun said:
Sure looks that way

Here's a pic I've posted on the Off-Topic forum before, but seems fitting here:
Click to expand...

Next time, make sure your jokes are spelled correctly.
 
Mav23 said:
Next time, make sure your jokes are spelled correctly.
Click to expand...

Also, make sure it's not a hyper-cheap ripoff. :) Here's the original EA/Borg shirt graphic...

eaborg.jpg
 
No, I didn't mean to include the Pic with the quote, what I meant was it took me a few minuets to make the attached file
 
Yeah, I've wanting to know this aswell. It would say all the trademarks belong to Origin but at the end it would say 'Origin is an Electronic Arts company'. That's what it says on my Crusader jewel case. The latest Ultima game(powered by Unreal engine) is much more baffling. It says, Ultima, Origin and EA Games are trademarks of EA. It seems the like Ultima belongs to EA rather than Ultima belongs to Origin, an EA company.

Confused yet?!

And then there was Westwood, ever since Tiberian Sun came out, it reads "C&C, Tiberian Sun and Westwood Online is a trademark of EA. Westwood is a trademark of EA. It never mentions Westwood, an EA company! When Westwood was with Virgin, I've never seen it saying that Westwood is a trademark of Virgin. In fact, it doesn't even say Westwood, a VIE company.
 
All rights (and trademarks, etc.) belong to Electronic Arts, except for very minor portions of some early Origin games (much of the pre-EA 'work for hire' stuff was done on a handshake basis -- allowing contractors to claim that they own, say, the WC1 theme music. In cases where this could become an issue, EA has gone forward and bought these rights individually...)
 
Whatever happened to Westwood? Was that name even on the Generals box or was it solely EA?
 
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