Archie Comics Hit With Lawsuit: May Affect Sonic Books

[ZariusTwo]

Another Archie Comics lawsuit is affecting the Sonic books

We’ve received a tip from The Shadow Imperator containing the complaint documents on the recent Archie lawsuit. The plaintiff, mentioned as Narrative Arc Entertainment organizer Scott Fulop, is citing 6 counts of illegal activities by Archie Comics and SEGA, including copyright infringement, violations of the Lanham Act, deceptive practices, unjust enrichment, and more. Fulop is apparently citing infringement on Sonic comics spanning from 1996-2012, and claiming republished and original work going up to 2009. There are 953 cited examples of alleged copyright infringement in comics, printed and digital. This includes 441 alleged infringements over 348 (re)releases of the main Sonic comic series. Fulop’s attorney is Neil Burstein, who is high-profile and has several top-tier IP and entertainment clients. Fulop is demanding a trial by jury as well.

This is a civil action seeking damages and injunctive relief for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of the United States, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, et seq., for violations of the Lanham Act, 15 Case 7:16-cv-06109-VB Document 1 Filed 08/01/16 Page 2 of 18 U.S. C. § 1125 (a), for unfair competition, unjust enrichment and related claims under Federal and New York statutory and common law, and for Declaratory Judgment that the alleged copyright registrations of the Defendants were fraudulently obtained, are invalid and should be canceled.

If you don’t know what the Lanham Act is, it is the primary federal trademark statute of law in the United States that prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising.

The complaint mentions the following characters as being part of his original work:

Mammoth Mogul
Sergeant Simian
Lightning Lynx
Predator Hawk
Flying Frog
The Fearsome Foursome (group name for Sergeant Simian, Lightning Lynx, Predator Hawk
and Flying Frog
Merlin Prower
Sir Connery, the Mighty Crusader
Black Death
Enchantress
Mathias Poe
Damocles the Elder
The Swords of Acorns
The Sword of Light
The Land of Dark
Fly, Fly Freddy

Indeed, Ken Penders has no involvement in the filing. However, Penders’ own account, along with his lawsuit, is cited

We’ll be updating you more on the latest, but this…looks bad. Especially for Archie and the Sonic comics.

http://www.tssznews.com/2016/08/03/a...ent-in-comics/

[Allio]

Well Archie has always had issues, hence the inconsistencies of their trades

[Coola Yagami]

wait... what? Is this like when that one guy quit and didn't want them to use his characters after he left or something like that?

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

wait... what? Is this like when that one guy quit and didn't want them to use his characters after he left or something like that?

Ken Penders? Yeah, I think he gets mentioned in the same article. He was the reason the series had the soft reboot so they could continue without using his characters.

[ZariusTwo]

Bleeding Cool's picked up on it now

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/08/...og-characters/

[Blackeyedsonic]

Why? just why? I mean its not fair to all the archie sonic fans man....