Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic at the Olympic Games
Sonic the Hedgehog Extreme
Sonic the Fighters
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic Runners
Sonic Underground
Sonic Advance 2
Sonic's Schoolhouse
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
Sega Heroes
Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Classic Collection
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Sega Superstars Tennis
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Sega Superstars
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Sonic Frontiers
Cream Flower Catch
Sonic Dream Team
Tails' Skypatrol
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Sonic Rush
Sonic Mania
Sonic Advance 3
Sonic Colors
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
Sonic Pinball Party
Sonic XS
Sonic Colors
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
Sonic Rivals 2
Sonic Gems Collection
Sonic's Edusoft
Sonic X Shadow Generations
Knuckles Baseball
Tails and the Music Maker
Shadow Basketball
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Sonic Adventure
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Viewing Single Trivia
subdirectory_arrow_right Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Game), EA Games (Company), Sega (Company)
▲
2
▼
Upon the release of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Ken Penders, a former writer on the Archie Comics Sonic comics, sued Sega and EA for supposedly using Sonic character concepts he had independently trademarked prior - particularly the Nocturnas Clan, a futuristic echidna tribe which he deemed as too similar to his own Dark Legion, a futuristic echidna technocracy. This lawsuit came months after Archie Comics filed their own suit against Penders due to a breach of contract after the trademarking, causing Archie to allow their contract with Sega to expire so they could negotiate new terms for the rights to create Sonic comics. This legal fiasco ended in Archie settling the case with Penders, losing the exclusivity to produce Sonic comics after negotiations with Sega, and causing them to write the "Super Genesis Wave", a super-charged energy blast utilizing the Chaos Emeralds that acted as a massive continuity rewrite where over 500 original characters and concepts created by Penders and other writers for the Archie Sonic comics were retconned. The Sega case on the other hand ended in a stalemate due to the statute of limitations, and will not be able to continue unless Sega uses characters from The Dark Brotherhood again.
Archived Archie lawsuit announcement:
https://web.archive.org/web/20101204044934/http://www.tssznews.com/2010/12/01/archie-comics-files-federal-lawsuit-against-ken-penders/
Archived audio recording of Sega case ending in a stalemate:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210327221238/https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/view.php?pk_id=0000011455
Supplementary wiki article with more sources and case timeline:
https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Ken_Penders%27_legal_cases
https://web.archive.org/web/20101204044934/http://www.tssznews.com/2010/12/01/archie-comics-files-federal-lawsuit-against-ken-penders/
Archived audio recording of Sega case ending in a stalemate:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210327221238/https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/view.php?pk_id=0000011455
Supplementary wiki article with more sources and case timeline:
https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Ken_Penders%27_legal_cases
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to post comments.