If True, it Could Cripple any Copyright Claims
At the heart of any further legal action on both sides of Ken Penders’s copyright claims is whether the former Sonic comic writer signed a “work for hire” agreement, which in essence relinquishes all rights to any work to the employer.
Though Archie is exploring legal options, no signed contract has yet been produced on either side, and may not in public unless the matter heads to court. But if a source who tipped off Sonic Retro forumer Trunks is to be believed, such an agreement does exist.
The source, who was not named, but claimed he signed the same agreement Penders did. While no explicit mention was made of the contract being a work for hire agreement, the source did say that “everything we do is property of Sega.”
If true, Penders may have no claim for the work he made scattered throughout his dozen year tenure at Archie comics, and it could expose him to greater legal action beyond the scope of what he’s claimed with the US Copyright Office. But that documentation must physically exist for the matter to be an open and shut case.
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Who cares about this characters, all are crap, and no one exist in sonic game line.
Sonic fans care xamoel. Even if you don’t, a lot do.
End already.
Ya know what I somewhat recall Ken Penders mentioning something long ago on AOL when he used to hang out in Private Room Knothole years ago before he set up his website.I think he also mentioned it again in his chat and on his Message Board later down the line before it was overhauled. If I recall correctly and it has been a longtime since I first logged on in 1997 that all work done for Archie in the Sonic comic book series are property of SEGA.I just really wish I had access to those logs and posts. They could still very well exist somewhere on the internet if someone looks hard enough. Maybe in the alt., one of the sonic mailing lists from back then, or an old defunct message board.
I will admit that a LOT of Pender’s characters were one-dimensional (if even that), but Ian Flynn has turned at least some of them into gems. And from Pender’s own admission (although the truthfulness of his word is definitely questionable), the reason Pender’s characters weren’t in the games was because *Penders specifically requested that Sega not use them* (which sounds kind of selfish, considering that Sonic the Hedgehog was a licenced comic based off a video game that didn’t have that much of an in-game story continuity at that time!)
Create characters is very difficult, you try.
Geez, I didn’t know Penders even had a word in edgewise with Sega regarding those characters.
If that is the case, it does make me wonder about the true authenticity of his ownership claims.
-T
As far as this goes, I would think that any character Penders has created while working for Archie Comics now belongs to Archie. Some companies do that don’t ‘cha know; where anything you come up with while working for the company while on company time becomes company property.
It’s not so they can screw the artist over, it’s so the artist can’t screw them over.
And now we’re at an impasse. I grew up with these characters and love each and would hate to no longer see them in the Sonic comics. Especially Julie-Su. I adore her.
… This is sounding more and more like a custody battle over children…. but in a sense, this is what it is. An artist loves the characters they create like they’re children. I’m an artist myself, so I sort of understand why Penders is going through all the trouble.
Sorry… now I’m just rambling. ^_^;
-WFH