FA+
Shop
For those of you still confused over Archie v. Penders...
11 years ago
General
Have you had your daily dose of brick to the face, today?
Here's what I'm able to discern, from months of looking into the legalities of it:
1. Sega has an agreement with Archie that says they can make the Sonic comics, so long as it's understood EVERYTHING in it - from the art to the stories to the characters - belongs to Sega.
2. Archie makes every employee they bring on into the comic sign a waiver agreeing to the above.
3. Somehow, they either didn't force Ken Penders to sign such a waiver, or they did but lost it in corporate shuffling.
4. Sega has Bioware make Sonic Chronicles, admitting to giving them copies of Penders' Knuckles the Echidna miniseries as reference material for the story and characters.
5. Fans realize the similarities and inform Penders, who looks into the issue and - likely knowing about point 3 - files suit against Sega for copyright infringement.
6. To strengthen his claim, Penders files copyright for all of his characters and stories.
7. Archie sees this, and - unaware of point 3 at that moment and still bound to point 1 - files suit against Penders.
8. Lots of legal mumbo jumble that goes nowhere.
9 Archie cannot prove point 3 didn't happen, therefore ensuring Penders can successfully argue his copyright case.
10. A settlement is held, which results in a "pound of flesh" paradox: Penders keeps his copyright claims, but cannot use them without severing all ties they had to the Archie comics, while Archie cannot use Penders' characters - which include the stipulations of paying him royalties for them and being consulted with the future use of a few of his other characters (all perfectly understandable) - without violating point 1.
11. Penders' "Lara-Su Chronicles" is stuck in development hell, while Archie opts to reboot the series without Penders' characters or stories to avoid other legal issues.
12. (Speculation) All this can be reinforced or negated depending on the result of the lawsuit in point 5; if Penders wins his suit, point 1 will likely be void and will likely force a shutdown of the comics, in a preemptive strike against other Sonic writers/artists demanding compensation for their work; if Penders loses his suit, point 10 becomes null, all of his copyrights return to Archie/Sega, he's shit out of luck, and executive meddling in the comics will be enforced more stringently than ever to avoid similar lawsuits.
Hope that clears everything up for you guys.
PS: No, Ted Turner was NOT responsible for Swat Kats being canceled; it was canceled because the lower executives tried to force it to become more kid-friendly and withheld vital merchandising opportunities for it until the kidification happened, which didn't happen until it was too late to save it. His infamous statement about not having "cartoons that taught kids to shoot at people" was aimed at Beavis and Butthead, not Swat Kats.
1. Sega has an agreement with Archie that says they can make the Sonic comics, so long as it's understood EVERYTHING in it - from the art to the stories to the characters - belongs to Sega.
2. Archie makes every employee they bring on into the comic sign a waiver agreeing to the above.
3. Somehow, they either didn't force Ken Penders to sign such a waiver, or they did but lost it in corporate shuffling.
4. Sega has Bioware make Sonic Chronicles, admitting to giving them copies of Penders' Knuckles the Echidna miniseries as reference material for the story and characters.
5. Fans realize the similarities and inform Penders, who looks into the issue and - likely knowing about point 3 - files suit against Sega for copyright infringement.
6. To strengthen his claim, Penders files copyright for all of his characters and stories.
7. Archie sees this, and - unaware of point 3 at that moment and still bound to point 1 - files suit against Penders.
8. Lots of legal mumbo jumble that goes nowhere.
9 Archie cannot prove point 3 didn't happen, therefore ensuring Penders can successfully argue his copyright case.
10. A settlement is held, which results in a "pound of flesh" paradox: Penders keeps his copyright claims, but cannot use them without severing all ties they had to the Archie comics, while Archie cannot use Penders' characters - which include the stipulations of paying him royalties for them and being consulted with the future use of a few of his other characters (all perfectly understandable) - without violating point 1.
11. Penders' "Lara-Su Chronicles" is stuck in development hell, while Archie opts to reboot the series without Penders' characters or stories to avoid other legal issues.
12. (Speculation) All this can be reinforced or negated depending on the result of the lawsuit in point 5; if Penders wins his suit, point 1 will likely be void and will likely force a shutdown of the comics, in a preemptive strike against other Sonic writers/artists demanding compensation for their work; if Penders loses his suit, point 10 becomes null, all of his copyrights return to Archie/Sega, he's shit out of luck, and executive meddling in the comics will be enforced more stringently than ever to avoid similar lawsuits.
Hope that clears everything up for you guys.
PS: No, Ted Turner was NOT responsible for Swat Kats being canceled; it was canceled because the lower executives tried to force it to become more kid-friendly and withheld vital merchandising opportunities for it until the kidification happened, which didn't happen until it was too late to save it. His infamous statement about not having "cartoons that taught kids to shoot at people" was aimed at Beavis and Butthead, not Swat Kats.
