The Perseverance of a Trademark Troll

Sockatume writes "Eurogamer has published an article on Tim Langdell's battle against the Edge iPhone game. Langdell, a British entrepreneur, founded Softek (later renamed The Edge, Edge Games and Edge Interactive Media Inc.) in the 1980s as a venture to fund game development, with profits to be split 50/50 with the developers. He moved to California in the 1990s in the wake of accusations of failing to pay his developers. Now a professor in games studies at National University, an IGDA board member, and a former member of BAFTA-LA's board, 'Dr.' Langdell spends his time accusing people of infringing his trademarks and offering to settle. After delivering a settle-or-die ultimatum to Edge publisher Mobigames (detailed in the article), he has convinced Apple to pull the game from the App Store. Mobigames is preparing to strike back: their lawyer believes that his trademarks are 'liable to be revoked.' Langdell has had a spate of bad press lately as other trademark disputes come to light, involving entities ranging from EA Games to Britain's venerable Edge Magazine (source of Edge Games' logo and now registering its own Edge trademark). He has never actually prevailed in a trademark hearing."

Re:Obscurity isn't a valid defense

[Shin-LaC]

I don't think anybody is going to confuse a game called Edge with a company called Edge Games.

Re:Obscurity isn't a valid defense

[cpt kangarooski]

What?

I don't think anyone could've claimed so much as niche fame for this mark with a straight face. But with the current requirement in the law for national fame as a prerequisite for dilution -- "a mark is famous if it is widely recognized by the general consuming public of the United States as a designation of source of the goods or services of the mark's owner" -- there's absolutely no chance, IMO.

Apple didn't pull it

[russotto]

According to TFA, the publisher pulled it after being threatened. Dumb move, IMO; if it comes to court, Langdell will claim that as an admission of liability.

As far as I can tell, Langdell's company never released a game identified as "Edge" or anything similar.