So Karl Bollers had no idea his characters had been taken out of the book.

Implying Archie NEVER contacted him about getting the rights to use his characters. Which suggests they also never contacted him about getting any legal ownership of anything. Which suggests that he never got royalties or anything, even though if they don't have a contract he's entitled to them.

And there were people honestly thinking Penders' bullshit would be good for the rights of old Archie staffers.

meh.