According to Variety, Tessa Dick is suing Electric Shepherd Productions, the production company founded by Dick's daughters, Laura Leslie and Isa Dick Hackett. She's seeking proceeds from A Scanner Darkly and the movie rights to Ubik, which is already in production. Electric Shepherd worked with Richard Linklater on Scanner Darkly. The suit alleges that Electric Shepherd had "disclaimed" any obligation to Tessa Dick for the proceeds from Ubik, and Variety adds:

The suit also asserts that Tessa Dick, the author's fifth wife, is entitled to the proceeds of the two novels as a result of the 1976 divorce agreement in which she relinquished her interest to a number of other projects the writer had started, completed or published during their relationship.

Dick is also suing Celluloid Dreams, Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency, Russell Galen and the Halcyon Co. The Halcyon Co. (which is producing Terminator Salvation and just settled a lawsuit relating to that film) signed a three-year first-look deal for the movie rights to all of Dick's novels and short stories in 2007. But a representative of Halcyon tells Variety the company passed on making a movie of Ubik, and therefore isn't involved in the suit. (And it sounds like Halcyon's deal is going to expire with no movie made.)

We tried to reach Electric Shepherd for comment, but they didn't respond in time. [Variety]

Ubik takes place in an alternate 1992, where you can travel to the moon, and telepathy is real. A company run by a man named Glen Runciter can block telepathy for clients who don't want their minds read. His adversary is Ray Hollis, who runs an organization of psychics. Our protagonist, Joe Chip, is a technician with Runciter's company and is crushed out on Pat Conley, one of the psychic-blocking people. They all head to the moon on behalf of a client who wants his mind shielded, but then everything goes to hell and Chip finds himself stuck in a disorienting world where everything is falling apart and he seems to be drifting back to a werid version of 1939.

Ubik was named one of the best 100 novels since 1923, by Time Magazine.[Variety, via Cinematical]