Ken Penders: 'Sonic lawsuit still on'

Writer Ken Penders has insisted that his legal dispute with Archie Comics over its Sonic The Hedgehog title is still on.

Earlier this year, the scribe filed a lawsuit against the publisher over the rights to characters he created for the video game adaptation.

Penders's complaint related to the characters Julie- Su, Geoffrey St. John, Hershey, Rob O' the Hedge, Lien-Da and the Dark Legion, some of which appeared in the BioWare RPG Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

The writer alleged that the US Copyright Offices recognises his ownership of the creations, making it illegal for Archie to reproduce any comics featuring them and outlawing their use in other media.

Reports that the lawsuit had been resolved emerged when Archie managing editor Mike Pellerito told TSSZ News that "a single phone call by Archie's legal department to former Sonic writer Ken Penders laid to rest the debate over the copyright claims he made".

However, speaking to Bleeding Cool Penders refuted this. "My claim has merit and I continue to use every legal means at my disposal to protect and preserve my rights," he told the website.

"It's bizarre that Archie would make a public statement that indicates otherwise."