The Philip K. Dick estate has filed suit against Media Rights Capital, which bought the rights to Dick’s “Adjustment Team” in 2009. The estate claims MRC owes them half a million dollars and a percentage of profits from the 2011 film The Adjustment Bureau.

MRC now claims the story’s copyright has lapsed, citing a 1954 publication and subsequent failure to renew the copyright. If the story is public domain, they owe nothing. The Dick Estate contends the 1954 publication was unauthorized, and that the first official publication of the story was in 1973.

More details can be found at the New York Times.