I remember you answering... several questions regarding the lawsuit stuff, so this is more just me wanting to clarify the order of events after having done my own research. Correct me if I miss anything or get anything wrong: Penders filed copyright over his characters > Archie learned of this and sued Penders > Penders counter-sued Archie *and* SEGA which got the latter into the insane potluck of the comics > Archie brought up the work-for-hire contract which Penders (and I think later Bollers) denied > SEGA started making some mandates for the comics in response to avoid this happening again > Nothing else was really done on this(?) > Chronicles came out > Penders sued SEGA and Bioware for suspiciously similar characters, groups, and plots to his own during his Archie run > The lawsuit was kinda just sat on for a couple years while SEGA made more mandates > Archie Sonic got the reboot
This isn’t quite right, no
Sonic Chronicles came out in 2008 before either of the lawsuits started, and it’s what inspired Ken to go copyright his work in the first place. Archie sued Ken over his copyrights in 2010, and Ken sued EA and Sega over Sonic Chronicles in 2011. But both cases took a couple years, and therefore they overlapped
Sega and Archie started tightening their leash on the comics towards the end of their legal battle with Ken in late 2012/early 2013 in an attempt to save the old continuity, when it was clear things weren’t going well. But this only lasted a few turbulent months. The conveniently timed Mega Man crossover gave them a chance to put the proper comic continuity on hold for four months, and then when Sonic came home following the crossover he was in the reboot universe. This new universe with its new worldbuilding was where most of the Sega mandates started coming into play
You should read my article on the subject for more info
