My biggest worry is Sega cracking the whip on their licenses. If we lose the comic now, after its been consistently good for a while, it would suck hardcore. But I think Sega is doing this just to get Penders out of the picture because he doesn't hold any license for the universe whatsoever. At least that's how I hope it goes down....
Sorry, but since they are the only ones reporting on this matter and I'm used to putting the source I just had to do it. Also, somehow I think Sega will just tell Archie to be more careful with their contracts (which I hope that they are already doing that) but I really don't think they are going to be stricter than they already are.
Moved posts, for the sake of argument. Also, do not post content from that site again, the ban is in place for a reason. Doing it again will likely impact negatively on your trial membership. Sorry, but 'dems the breaks.
Just for clarification then, where do we go for this info since no one else is covering it (its the one thing they do sorta right)
We do as before and quote them without stating source or directly linking to their site? I mean, technically that's a violation of the rules as well, but as you say there's no other site to quote on this.
You know, I really hate to make this compairson, but it seems to me that in this situation, TSSZ is Fox News in that they're the ONLY one covering this. So why isn't Sonic Retro or Sonic Stadium?
What do we do about this then? no one else is reporting on it except TSSZ. we need another source people here won't get ticked off about.
Probably because there's nothing to talk ABOUT at the moment. When something of actual real relevance happens - like I don't know, a final decision - it'll be widespread.
What is there to discuss though? We know they're stepping in - against Penders, there's little doubt - but little more beyond that.
Was Sega asked to intervene by Archie or the judge, or did they come in completely as a third party to all of this?
I believe that they're being ordered by the judge to come in. I'm a little amused by something Bob's said at Penders's forum: I'm not sure why this would be welcomed by Penders. I mean, Sega's not going to exactly be on his side in this. His characters are clearly derived from Knuckles (at the VERY least, visually). AND he's already tried to file a lawsuit AGAINST Sega. One he's either tried to refile already or plans to refile the moment he can. Why would Sega give him an advantage that he can use against them? That just doesn't make sense. Sega is much more powerful than Archie. They'd either slam him or slowly drag it out in a war of attrition, wouldn't they? At the very least (as Tylinos points out over there) this would end with Penders being required to change his character designs so that they don't resemble Knuckles in the slightest. (Especially since Sega Echindas don't actually look like real life echidnas) Or am I missing something? (I'm sincerely asking; I've been a little off and on about this whole thing lately)
Read more here : http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/05/09/archie-desperate-to-settle-but-cant-without-sega-the-latest-in-the-ken-penders-sonic-comics-case/
That poor judge. He's probably learned enough about the Archie Sonic continuity to join Retro with a level of authority in the field at this point
You've pretty much got it. Like I said, bringing Sega in has no advantage for Ken as far as any of us know. Best case scenario for him is it ends up exactly the same as if they weren't brought in. The only possible changes would be bad for him, like forcing him to change the designs. This judge is the best. The entire record is pretty much full of snark from him. Worth reading for him alone. A few interesting points: About the agreed settlement terms, Mr. Paul said that "We said, and this is the term sheet, that the Archie company did not agree with that assertion, but that Archie would agree that it would not pursue a claim against Penders for exploiting those rights, provided that those claimed rights would not have a look or feel as though they were part of a sonic universe." He went on to say that the reason for all of the delays is that they had to discuss the bounds of Penders' claims, but never got to it. Mr. Daman noted a bit after that "we'd love to adhere to the terms of the settlement from November." So it seems Ken is actually okay with changing the look of the characters away from looking like Sonic characters if he has to. Which is odd because that doesn't seem to match what he's been saying, but whatever. [quotename='Mr. Paul']The reason is, that there's a third party who's very important to the settlement but is not in court, and that is Archie's licensor, Sega. Mr. Penders has sued Sega. That action has been stayed pending the resolution of this case, and we have an obligation, we — I will say a practical obligation because the last thing we want there to be is a dispute with our good licensor. But our licensor expects Archie to take care of this problem, as any licensor would. And so while we have, I think, as between Mr. Penders and Archie, we really could — if those were the only parties, we could do a deal. The problem is that we are paying or are responsible for that part of the overall equation, and the value that Mr. Penders has assigned to that second part of the equation does not take into account this legal issue that I brought to you just now.[/quote] Basically, the reason Sega hasn't joined in until now is that Archie would have to pay for Sega's rather expensive lawyers. [quotename='Mr. Paul']I'm hoping that when we do that [bring in Sega's lawyer], that we'll have an opportunity to reframe the expectations of Mr. Penders in terms of what his rights are worth.[/quote] Also, it's implied by Mr. Daman that he was only just made aware of the possibility that the law may actually consider Penders' characters derivative of Sega characters, and that he needs to read up the exact wording of the law on it. (Mr. Paul put it as "the ownership of the derivative work is governed by the intention of the licensor and the licensee in the grant".)
Spoiler I am unfamiliar with how the story goes down in Chronicles because everything about it screams that it's a horrible game, but my understanding is that the setting has its own "Brotherhood" like faction that ties together things like the gravity stuff in Riders and the Gizoids like Emerl. How much of it apes Pender's Dark Brotherhood and cabal of secret grandpas so that he could even have grounds to sue Sega and Bioware over it? On a sheer character design, getting Sega involved is like the worst thing that Penders could do unless he was counting on a quick settlement. I was under the impression he was fighting for the characters but also their Sonic likeness. I don't even see how he could even claim the likeness and get this far.
It doesn't ape Penders' Brotherhood, it apes the Dark Legion. The Dark Legion are a bunch of technologically advanced ancient echidnas trapped in a dimension named the Twilight Zone. Amongst their ranks is a female "badass" echidna named Julie-Su, who later (more like immediately) allies with Knuckles. The Dark Brotherhood are a bunch of technologically advanced ancient echidnas trapped in a dimension named the Twilight Cage. Amongst their ranks is a female "badass" echidna named Shade, who later allies with Knuckles.
Whoops meant the legions from Archie. I know Bioware was using the comics for the gist of their echidnas, but there isn't anything more damning than there's a female and that they are technically capable? The games already set up Knuckles's past with Adventure and alluded to them in with Battle's Gizoids. Is there nothing more than that? I tried reading a synopsis and can't find anything more.
