While still in the middle of his lawsuit against Archie comics, TSSZ has learned that Penders is now suing both Sega and EA (owners of Bioware) for copyright claims over stories and characters he created that were re-named and added to the game “Sonic Chronicles”. He also claims that Bioware came to him for help on the game.
Personally while I’m not sure on his legal standings, I’ve both played Sonic Chronicles and read the entire Knuckles series and it’s very easy to see the similarities. If Bioware did in fact, come to him for ideas it does raise some questions. This is starting to become a bit of a “David vs. Goliath story”. We’ll keep you informed as more news on this case develops.
HEEEEERREE We go again!
Hop on the Penders Lawsuit Rollercoaster! WHEEEEE!!!
Lol Penders lawsuit rollercoaster , ive got images of one now lol your Comment of the week XD
He’s a fuckin’ liar. Because he woulda sued LONG time ago. Fuckin’ liar. LOL!
Agreed
He’s been busy working for a long while on securing copyrights for his Archie work, incidentally. They only started confirming his copyright claims a little while back.
I’m suing someone right now, and loving it! ;D
I played Sonic Chronicles once round my friends house, but apart from that haven’t played it 🙁
Although my friend told me some of the story. Anyway wouldn’t he of sued them a while ago? As in near the games release?
I think he’s lying.
Or maybe he was playing through it to see if he was in the credits but it took him this long. XD
Yeah probably XD
OH BOY, here we go again but the good side about this….I get to save his picture and laugh at it EVERYDAY
you know…now that im looking at it, he looks like robotnik.
Oh hell, you’re right!
I was just thinking exactly the same thing.
lol he kinda does.
Except with hair.
Now, you know who could play Dr. Robotnik in a Live Action Movie? Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters. 😀
o_o Wow, yeah! I definitely would like to see him try a Dr. Robotnik impression!
YES. I would pay to see that.
Wouldn’t he of sued them at the time Chronicles was being released (in 2008) It’s been nearly 3 years since it was released and now all of a sudden he wants to sue them now……? o.O….XD
Oh for the love of pete.
Mr Penders are you trying to get your self into bankruptcy or something equally bad?
So did a chaos emerald fall on his head recently to just realize this now? XD
GOD NO ONE EVEN CARES ABOUT THIS GUY!
IF he’s already being sued, why the fuck does he wanna sue someone?
Well, he’s actually winning against Archie in court. So he’s probably feeling very cocky. Also, he has a pretty noticeable American fanbase backing him over the series itself.
Also, news, everybody: he has not just suddenly turned around and said, “hey, I’ll sue these guys too.” He acknowledged the similarities between the characters on his forum back in 2008 just after the game’s release, and he actively threatened legal action with EA no later than last year. He has been very, very busy working on his case against Archie, something that has not been able to settle itself in just a few months.
Can you please state how he is winning and where you heard that? I have heard no new news on the case he has with Archie
*facepalm* Oh for crying out loud; not this s*** again!
I’m pretty sure that this case definitely won’t work out. Unless they actually asked him for help and he helped with the game and asked to be credited and then they didn’t credit him, he has nothing.
Yes, obviously the Nocturnus are inspired by the Dark Legion. But they aren’t actually the Dark Legion. It’s a nerdy reference, an homage if you want to get fancy, not actually using of “his” characters. So I really don’t think he has much ground here.
I like everything Ken had done with the Knuckles series, but he is seriously making me dislike him with all these lawsuits.
I agree with what you have put apart from the fact that I haven’t read the comics
I would also like to add that surely SEGA owns everything related to the sonic franchise which means the content in the comics belongs to them.
Ya, SEGA shouldn’t be getting sued for shit. F*ck that guy.
But you forget that while Sega holds rights for characters, the creators of said characters are supposed to get compensation for their work.
If he did actually help on Chronicles, or worse, the team that built Chronicles ripped his hard work for their own, then he by all means has a foot to stand on.
And Ken’s picture makes him look like a rapist.
I’m not sure how he can win this one. “Stealing his characters and changing their names”?? Technically, even if they DID do that, he’d need proof that they aren’t just similar characters.
I mean hell, it revolves around the echidnas and Chronicles uses characters that tie in with the events of Tikal’s time, and Sonic Adventure already established the ancient tribe deal which we already expected by the fact Knuckles is a dreadlock guardian of a powerful HUGE gem! And in the Classic games the prologues already consider the emeralds to be part of ancient mystical stuff with tribes and villages. lol
I mean, the character Ix is compared to Finitevus, but he’s also compared to Dr. Zachery. So if they can sue just cuz Ix is an evil albino echidna like one of those 2, then that means Finitevus could be copied off of ol’ Zack! :U
It’s just a coincidence cuz it’s a commonly thought of cool idea! XP
Also, why does Penders look so derp? o.o
I feel like, the guy might have a good reason for all this, but it’s making him get a bad reputation. What does he want the rights for anyways? In the end he works for companies that make Sonic stuff, with or without him, and he’s getting paid to participate. He’s getting paid whether he sues or not, and his stuff gets into Sonic productions one way or another. So what’s the problem? Does he want them to just be fan characters that are never used? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. lol
Ugh…doesn’t he get that when you “help” large companies like this, part of the agreement is that they OWN YOUR SHIT! This guy didn’t grasp the concept when he first started his sue-crusade, and now he’s doing the same thing again.
However, when you look at the photo of that sad-sack…you have to wonder what else this guy has in his life.
Oh Kenny.
SEGA owns you. Figuratively and literally.
Stop whining and be honored that your ideas were good enough to use again, if that’s even the case.
Wow.
I don’t think he’ll get very far in court.
… cuz Shade is too epic. ;D And as other people said, Sega is the big guy. They could toss him out for this. =/
I have a feeling there is a little more to the story than just Ken being a nutjob.
If he turned out to be a nutjob I wouldnt really be surprised, but idk.
I’ve played Chronicles, but I haven’t read the Knuckles series, so I don’t know what he’s fussing about. Yes, Chronicles seems like the Archie team wrote the script for some of it, and they make a nice Homage with teh SWATbots and a reference to robotization, but that’s about it. Besides, isn’t he just the writer for the Comics? SEGA owns everything, including Archie’s “Official Fan Characters”.
Oh wait, so he’s claiming that Bioware took Ken’s Julie-Su and changed her into Shade? Bull crap. Utter bull crap.
Anyways, this “Penders Lawsuit Rollercoaster” is getting monotonus, and he better do something quickly before the giant wakes up.
Oh Ken, your so random.
But yeah, you guys should stop and remember that whilst he may be being a bit silly right now, this is still the man who created these characters/stories, whilst they may or may not legally be his own, I still think he deserves some respect for his work, not the pure abuse he seems to be getting from the majority of comments here.
Ken Penders once again proves to the fanbase he claims to be part of how much of a colossal jackass he truly is.
Where the hell is Don’t-Sue-People-Panda when you need him?
I can also see the resemblance between his work in the comics and the game.. but shouldn’t he have had all these issues sorted prior to the games release? (Still waiting on part 2 guys)
Penders plans on fighting EA?He is insane…they’ve got lawyers up the yin yang. NO way is he winning this. Knowing EA they’ll probably counter sue him or something lol. EA is not a company to be fooled with,loosing battle.
I officially declare Penders: ASSHOLE!
Hey Ken Penders two word for you “FUCK OFF!”
Ken is one UGLY Muthafuka.
Bull Shit. He has no right to sue anyone. Even if the ideas for SC:DB where from his comic, Sonic, Knuckles, and the whole Sonic Universe belong to SEGA as far as I’m aware.
…SEGA should be the ones whom are suing… because that man is SO damn ugly. His Face was FUBAR’d.(F**k’d Up Beyond All Recognition.)
Considering the story was just about the only thing in Sonic Chronicles that was any good, I can’t blame him for getting mad if there was some potential stealing of ideas. 😛
Okay, how many people in the comments are actually offering thoughts that are not just verbal insults? It’s this kind of language and behaviour that people outside the fandom base their opinions on.
Penders is going to lose. Everything in the book belongs to Sega.
what a dick.
seriously.
Ok, when I was playing Chronicles, I did feel some similairities. You know them all, so I’m not going to say them.
But, I’m sorry but this guy is going to lose.Even IF they did come to him for ideas, he’d need some ACTUAL PROOF that it actually happened.
Also, does anyone have any news on him vs Archie? I would like to know, if you could spare the time.
To be honest, I can understand NOT suing a larger group/organization for having been wronged. I’ve personally experienced very unlawful actions taken by my city of residence back in high school. The reason it tends to take so long is because of a feeling of intimidation and loss of resources on the small “David” end of the battle. Considering I could lose to an entire cities legal defense team (Goliath) along with loss of personal funds (lawyers) has kept me and my family from suing despite the effects of that lasting for the rest of my academic life. Honestly, I wouldn’t know how to go about re-kindling my old case at all. I was falsely accused of terrorism. Yes. TERRORISM.
Don’t assume he’s lying because it took him 3 years to get the balls/money to pursuit it. Not to mention the fact that he’s already in another lawsuit at the same time. If he were to jump on too many things at once it would easily spark some doubt in his claims… I STILL haven’t filed a lawsuit and my issue occured in late 2007. So by the logic of many users here I’m a liar because I fail to pursuit an extremely daunting task.
…And yeah Ken Penders sort of does look like Dr. Robotnik… One of my first thoughts upon seeing his photograph. LoL
Ken may own the character Julie-Su (tho I don’t think he does), but he doesn’t own the concept of a girl who turns against the evil organization she worked for to help the good guys. Neither does he own the idea of a nether-world zone where ppl have been banished to, or the idea of a dark mysterious sect of bad guys. The fact that both Ken and Bioware used these with echidnas doesn’t matter, because what they share aren’t specific settings or names, but cliches and tropes which many are familiar with, as they’re used so often. Ken didn’t invent the major aspects of Julie-Su’s identity or characterization: it’s been used before. That’s why I don’t think his case holds any water, because he’s suing over things that aren’t really his, namely characterizations and general concepts (such as a ‘twilight zone’). Sure, Chronicles pays homage to and was influenced by Ken’s work, but was Ken ever influenced by anything?? Guess not; I suppose he’s the only one to ever have purely original ideas, which no man had ever witnessed before. Please. At worst, Chronicles is a ripoff, but ripoffs aren’t illegal, and you don’t see the Wachowski Brothers suing every Matrix movie knockoff that’s released.
Another thing is I’m pretty sure he’s annihilated much of his fan support, if not most of it, because whatever he thinks about himself, the fans care more about sonic than Ken, and what he’s doing does pose a potential threat to the status quo. Though of course this is all just my opinion–I’m not a lawyer, and neither have I gone and asked every sonic fan what they think of Penders. Whatevs–draw your own conclusions, and this thing will turn out how it turns out.
Oh for christ sake.
You were on their ruddy payroll and then they use an idea you had but change a few pigging details.
Why doesn’t AAUK sue SEGA and Sonic Team for using his name as the last boss in Sonic Riders?
And whilst I’m on the subject, why don’t I sue my girlfriend for her hurting my fellings by the use of the word “Numpty” followed by my name when I started writing this comment!
Oh, maybe because we aren’t complete arseholes!
So there’s similarities between his characters and story found in Bioware’s Sonic Chronicles… But couldn’t the same be said about how his characters and story resembles those made by SEGA? If this is the case, then I’m guessing no more fan fictions and fan art if this thing gets out of hand when everyone on both sides of the party gets sue happy about it.
http://www.gamerlaw.co.uk/2011_05_01_archive.html this site might prove some insite on this kind of things…maybe…
@Valormere LOL!LOL!I could not have put it better.
Ah finally, some sensibility in the discussion, thanks Umiyuri, Milo & Goodman.
I find it amusing how senseless many of you are, geez give the guy a break, he’s only human. Have you even thought about putting yourself in his shoes? He’s probably got more balls that many of you who are sitting on your fat arses just insulting the dude over the internet. The comics industry can be pretty complicated, thrown in a lawsuit and you got a whole load more of confusion added to the mix
And before you jump the gun, I’m neutral in this case – whether the guy wins or loses, at the end of the day it’s business and real life. Just don’t go crying over the fact that the little guy won against the giant corps, and that he took away Sonic from you. And don’t get me wrong, I love Sonic, Sonic Archie even more at present. But yeah if he wins then tough luck on us and well done to him, he would deserve every bit of it after all the shit he’s getting from the fanbase.
Anyways I’m going to continue to keep watch of this case in future, I’m rather curious to know how this develops. Maybe it can teach people a thing or two about how the world works. *thumbs up*
While this is puzzling, it will certainly be a learning experience, especially for those who want to get into comics (like me). I’ll be keeping an eye on this, too.
Good on ya Ryan, there’s a thousand ways to learn, observation is one of them.
And crud, I should have done a grammar/spell check before submitting the post. XD
“He’s probably got more balls than…”
“The comics industry can be pretty complicated, throw…”
I could be mistaken, but didn’t Ken state earlier that someone brought the similarities between his comics and Chronicles to his attention after it was released? I could have sworn I remembered hearing something like that.
But now he’s claiming Bioware approached him for help BEFORE the release? I’m a bit confused o_0
Wtf Ken,…sueing on SEGA and EA? Shame on you, SHAMEEEEE XD