At this point, anyone could reproduce connectors w\o the need for permission from Rick. There's a chance they might have been patented, but those would have been long expired on EM games (and soon most SS\DMD games!).

There's no way a connector could be trademarked or copyrighted, so these kind of parts would be fair game for anyone to reproduce.

They don't own the rights. Williams still does. PPS bought the right to be the gatekeeper to Williams' IP (basically just the copyrights now as nearly all of Williams' patents have expired or will soon). In the past PPS has operated almost exclusively by having third parties pay him a royalty on products containing Williams IP. I know of very few products actually manufactured by PPS. This may change in the future (and I could be completely wrong as it's hard to tell who actually makes what), but time will tell.