In 2003, Lady Miss Kier, the former member of the band Deee-Lite, filed a lawsuit against SEGA believing that they had used her likeness for the game's character Ulala. SEGA previously contacted her for permission to use her name, image and songs, possibly for "Space Channel 5: Part 2", but she had declined. Kier however lost the suit since the game was released back in 1999 and the developers had never heard of Deee-Lite before. It was also ruled by the California Supreme Court that Ulala's design was sufficient enough to be considered 'transformative work'.