This thing is STILL going on? D'geez. Drop it, Ken, and come up with some NEW characters for your new stories....Sheesh.
And his arguement about not being able to afford to travel to New York?...He can afford lawyers...but he can't afford to go to that trial? Fail. I know what it's like to live off of Unemployment, but he seems to be using it as a crutch or attention-getting-device.
It's this whole mess that makes me hesitant when I say I want to rework my fancharacter into an OC. I don't want to end up turning into a Penders and become a laughingstock.
This is all just my opinion, of coarse.
So Penders is living off unemployment, yet he's working on that web series "The Republic". So technically he's not unemployed.
Truth be told I really don't think that Penders will ever release that "Brotherhood of Guardians" graphic novel that he's been talking about since this whole mess started.
Even if Penders is somehow able to win his case, he'll have to redesign his characters and his storylines.
He's clearly in this for the money, and to get back at Archie.
Anyway the next court date is June 7th(unless it's been changed).
Down with penders!
It's weird that even though Penders is paranoid about Archie's lawyers spying on his forum, he continues to let people talk about the copyright case on his forum. Plus every now and then he'll say something that makes him look bad.
If he's that worried about things on his forum being used against him, he should have locked the topic, and not let people talk about it.
Ian and Archie are doing the smart thing by not talking about it.
I think Penders' main flaw here is that he's milking for attention when it would be smarter to just shut down all discussion on the issue until, at the least, everything is said and done. Maybe he's hoping the emotional appeal of fans supporting him will register with Archie?
This just in Penders is now suing Sega and EA Games over Sonic Chronicles.
Former Sonic comic writer and artist Ken Penders has filed a civil lawsuit against both Sega and Electronic Arts, TSSZ has learned.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday at the Central District of California Western Division court, a federal court in Los Angeles. Sega of America and Electronic Arts are specifically named as defendants, according to documents obtained by TSSZ. A summons has been issued to the named defendants.
Portions of the public record made available to TSSZ indicate the case, at its core, will center on copyright infringement claims. Included in the filing is a notification to the US Copyright Office, which is required for any action or appeal on a copyright, and in this matter details more than 30 claims Penders filed going back to early 2009. According to a statement Penders made last year, the US Copyright Office certified those claims. In this case, the copyrights cited include material from the Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis Knuckles , the Knuckles The Dark Legion mini-series, and the proper Knuckles series that followed. Also included in the claims are data files for Julie-Su and Brotherhood of the Guardians. If nothing else, it now appears Penders is serious about defending his still valid copyrights.
Though we cannot confirm the circumstances of the case due to the current absence of the formal complaint in the public record, it should be noted Electronic Arts bought BioWare in October 2007–almost a year before the BioWare developed, Sega published Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was released to the Nintendo DS. In his initial public statement about the copyright claims last year, Penders does say that game, amid other factors, prompted him to take action in the first place:
I initially took the action of reclaiming my work when I was contacted by many SONIC fans asking me if I had contributed in any way to the development of the video game SONIC CHRONICLES: THE DARK BROTHERHOOD. I was then startled to learn how many characters and concepts from the KNUCKLES series I created were adapted within the framework of the game’s storyline. It was clearly obvious why suddenly so many fans sat up and took notice.
We should also note Penders remains at the center of another ongoing legal matter between him and Archie Comics, in which Penders is named as a defendant, and Archie is seeking a declaratory judgment to determine who owns what of Penders’s past work.
We will bring you more information on this developing story when more material becomes publicly accessible.
Hey Ken news flash! SEGA can use anything they want from the comic in a game, they own it all! Have fun getting destroyed in court by SEGA and EA's lawyers.
This just in Penders is now suing Sega and EA Games over Sonic Chronicles.
Former Sonic comic writer and artist Ken Penders has filed a civil lawsuit against both Sega and Electronic Arts, TSSZ has learned.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday at the Central District of California Western Division court, a federal court in Los Angeles. Sega of America and Electronic Arts are specifically named as defendants, according to documents obtained by TSSZ. A summons has been issued to the named defendants.
Portions of the public record made available to TSSZ indicate the case, at its core, will center on copyright infringement claims. Included in the filing is a notification to the US Copyright Office, which is required for any action or appeal on a copyright, and in this matter details more than 30 claims Penders filed going back to early 2009. According to a statement Penders made last year, the US Copyright Office certified those claims. In this case, the copyrights cited include material from the Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis Knuckles , the Knuckles The Dark Legion mini-series, and the proper Knuckles series that followed. Also included in the claims are data files for Julie-Su and Brotherhood of the Guardians. If nothing else, it now appears Penders is serious about defending his still valid copyrights.
Though we cannot confirm the circumstances of the case due to the current absence of the formal complaint in the public record, it should be noted Electronic Arts bought BioWare in October 2007–almost a year before the BioWare developed, Sega published Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was released to the Nintendo DS. In his initial public statement about the copyright claims last year, Penders does say that game, amid other factors, prompted him to take action in the first place:
I initially took the action of reclaiming my work when I was contacted by many SONIC fans asking me if I had contributed in any way to the development of the video game SONIC CHRONICLES: THE DARK BROTHERHOOD. I was then startled to learn how many characters and concepts from the KNUCKLES series I created were adapted within the framework of the game’s storyline. It was clearly obvious why suddenly so many fans sat up and took notice.
We should also note Penders remains at the center of another ongoing legal matter between him and Archie Comics, in which Penders is named as a defendant, and Archie is seeking a declaratory judgment to determine who owns what of Penders’s past work.
We will bring you more information on this developing story when more material becomes publicly accessible.
If he wins, He will ruin the sonic community. He has to lose.
<Lincoln>It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.</Lincoln>
Penders really should've kept that in mind.
I can't see Penders having enough money to go up against both Sega and EA.
You can only assume that he's hoping beyond hope that they'd rather settle the case and make it go away then potentially spending more money trying the case in court.
That's some Langdell-esque tactics, right there. And, well... EA didn't take kindly to it then.
In other news the Paramount company has sued Ken Penders for suspicious similarities to Star Trek in his comic writing.
In other news the Paramount company has sued Ken Penders for suspicious similarities to Star Trek in his comic writing.
You can sue ppl for smiler plots?
There's more news.
Complaint Claims BioWare Approached Penders for Help on Sonic Chronicles
The lawsuit Ken Penders filed against Sega and Electronic Arts alleges both direct and indirect copyright infringement by both companies, and unfair competition. But perhaps most damning in the complaint is the revelation in the complaint that employees of Sonic Chronicles developer BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, allegedly approached Penders for help on the game.
This, according to the 18 page complaint obtained by TSSZ on Thursday through public record. Ten “John Does” are also named as defendants, with the caution that the plaintiff does not know their true identity, be it corporate or individual, but nevertheless, according to the suit, “have infringed Penders’ copyrights, have contributed to the infringement of his copyrights, or have engaged in one or more of the wrongful practices.”
Penders is seeking unspecified monetary damages in the lawsuit from all parties, along with attorneys’ fees, and other damages deemed appropriate by the court. Penders is also seeking a jury trial.
Much of the initial Facts Common to all Causes of Action read a lot like Penders’s defense against Archie Comics, which is currently seeking a declaratory judgment as to who owns the work he contributed to the ongoing Sonic comics, and reaffirms many of his contributions to the comics are presently registered with the US Copyright Office. In paragraph 23, attorneys for Penders write that the writer/artist was at times not paid by the Archie even after submitting ideas that were further developed:
23. Archie did not pay Penders for several projects he created and submitted to Archie for consideration on both Sonic The Hedgehog and the core Archie titles, even after giving Penders approval for further development.
Paragraphs 33 and 34 reaffirm Sega was notified by the US Copyright Office of Penders’s intent to register, and never responded.
The corner’s turned beginning at paragraph 38, when attorneys for Penders outright accuse the defendants of infringing “upon Penders’ exclusive rights by creating, publishing, distributing and selling a video game titled “Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood” (the “Infringing Game”) embodying elements of the Works without permission or license from Penders,” according to the complaint.
The complaint provides a screenshot from a promotional video BioWare allegedly used to promote Chronicles before release. Attorneys for Penders in the complaint argue that the video’s contents demonstrated “the breadth and richness of the Sonic universe, specifically mentioning the comic books Penders was largely responsible for,” adding that a display for issue 14 of the Sonic comic, a portion of which falls under Penders’s copyright claims, was featured.
In Paragraph 41, attorneys for Penders claim the following:
Employees of EA’s BioWare division approached Penders during development of the Infringing Game and inquired of Penders whether he might be available to assist them in the development of the Infringing Game.
There is little explanation beyond that, and no additional exhibits or evidence were disclosed to support that claim. But Attorneys for Penders did afford in the complaint a side by side comparison between copyrights Penders holds, the specific work in question as they relate to those copyrights, and characters and settings in Chronicles that the plaintiff believes are infringing. Among the highlights is the claim Shade infringes on Julie-Su, the claim of The Dark Brotherhood infringing on both Brotherhood of the Guardians and The Dark Legion, and The Twilight Cage infringing on Penders’s The Twilight Zone inside the comics.
“The Infringing Game bears a substantial similarity to the Works, because the total concept and feel is similar, if not identical, between the story and characters in the Infringing Game and the Penders’ Works, and because Sega has created a genuine documented confusion in the marketplace as to Penders’ actual involvement with the Infringing Game,” the complaint reads in part. “Reviewers and players have stated their belief that the Infringing Game was adapted from or heavily influenced by the Archie comic book series, including the Works and other creative works that Penders developed and produced.”
In short, if you’ve ever had an inkling of deja vu between pieces of Chronicles‘ characters and story and Penders’s past work, you may in fact be strengthening the case against Sega and EA. That said, no supporting documentation for the above claim was filed to complement the complaint.
Attorneys for Penders claim the approval process Archie Comics had with Sega renders the latter liable for damage, because aside from Sega publishing Chronicles, Sega also had to approve work inside the comic, including Penders’s, before any issue went to publication–giving cause for Penders to believe Sega was well aware of him and his contributions.
Both Sega and EA have 21 days from the time they are formally served a summons to file a response, both with Penders’s counsel and with the court. Interestingly enough, that would pinpoint any elevation on the matter to around the time of Sonic’s 20th anniversary. We will keep tabs.
I suppose this goes beyond the "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery" theory...
Penders is seriously going after anybody and everybody that he can. Why can't he put that much effort into adjusting his Brotherhood story so that he doesn't need the basic Knuckles/Floating/Angel Island/Master/Chaos Emeralds designs and story?
The timing almost seems suspect, given the anniversary coming up.
I restate my earlier position: it's good if Ken wins if Archie/SEGA really were screwing people over for their ideas and not paying them, because that's not cool. But it's bad if he wins, if he ends up screwing the entire established story continuity because he isn't willing to share the involved stories and characters, or at least not without increasing the cost of making the comic (which would likely just cause Archie/SEGA to reboot or, worst case, discontinue it entirely).
Think I could have a chance of suing SEGA for making Emerl? He looks an awful lot like Tergonaut, after all, and Terg definitely precedes Sonic Battle. XP
For evidence:
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100526122332/sonic/images/8/86/Char_emerl_big.png
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd128/tergocorp/Tergonaut/tergo.jpg
The timing almost seems suspect, given the anniversary coming up.
I restate my earlier position: it's good if Ken wins if Archie/SEGA really were screwing people over for their ideas and not paying them, because that's not cool. But it's bad if he wins, if he ends up screwing the entire established story continuity because he isn't willing to share the involved stories and characters, or at least not without increasing the cost of making the comic (which would likely just cause Archie/SEGA to reboot or, worst case, discontinue it entirely).
Think I could have a chance of suing SEGA for making Emerl? He looks an awful lot like Tergonaut, after all, and Terg definitely precedes Sonic Battle. XP
For evidence:
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100526122332/sonic/images/8/86/Char_emerl_big.png
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd128/tergocorp/Tergonaut/tergo.jpg
Lawyer Talk Mode engage
It isn't some much Archie is cheating Ken out of anything, it is more or less Ken is taking advantage of a technical loop hole that Archie apparantly neglected to close off. As for the Sega/EA/Bioware suit, doesn't the whole last of [blank] encounter his/her own kind in other world/dimension count as public domain, meaning no one can really sue anyone because it belongs to no one.
I don't care if Archie treated him badly.
I don't want him to win since it could potentially destroy the book. I don't think that he deserves copyrights. In fact I wouldn't be surprise if he lied to the copyright office to get his copyrights in the first place.
