Ken Penders to Report Site with Hosted Sonic Comics

Is it backstabbing to the Archie fans, or is Ken Penders simply trying to curb illegal doings on the Internet?  It all started when Trez, staff member of our sister site Shadow of Light (meaning, we here at TSSZ might be given some blame for this), posted Sonic comics up for download at the site. This appears to be an infringement of copyright, even with the ‘Fair Use’ clause in effect in US law today.  When Ken Penders returned from the San Diego Comic-Con and heard of the news, this was his reply:

Should you proceed with uploading complete Sonic stories which Archie has published, both Sega and Archie will prosecute you to the full extent of the law. You would be blatantly infringing on their legal rights from which they would have no choice but to do so. You are not posting these things completely in a vacuum. As I work for Archie, I would have no choice but to report you, or else jeopardize my position. Please reconsider your actions or else be prepared to face the consequences.

This will certainly be the start of an interesting few days.  A quick note: Sega has taken the attitude of “As long as it doesn’t hurt us severely, we’re not going to pursue legal action” thus far for the Sonic and Sega Internet Community, that’s why Sonic MP3 sites outside of SimpleNet have managed to stay online.  Whether that will change when and if Penders reports this has yet to be seen.