Well, it seems like the long-running trademark campout is over.
For years, Edge Games’ CEO Tim Langdell has built himself up a considerable reputation as a trademark troll. That is, he’d trademarked the phrases “EDGE”, “CUTTING EDGE”, “THE EDGE” and “GAMER’S EDGE” and filed litigation against anybody who used them. The thing is, he wasn’t using any of the marks himself, and defendants would consistently allege that he’d wait until AFTER their products went to market, clearly defining Langdell as a trademark troll.
Over the years he’s gone after various video games, Marvel Comics with the word “edge” in the name of the story arc and even Edge Magazine in the UK.
Most recently, there was a stir-up after publisher Electronic Arts released their game Mirror’s Edge, which Langdell attempted to get a piece of.
It seems Langdell went after too big a fish, however, as today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceled all of Langdell’s Edge-related trademarks.
It’s not been a good 12 months for Langdell, having been ousted from his seat on the International Game Developers’ Association board of directors back in August.
So with this out of the way, get ready for the flood of games with the word “Edge” in the title. You know it’s coming.
[...] EA DICE gets Edge Games’ trademark cancelled [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eggzbacon , Jimmy Crawford. Jimmy Crawford said: @kierongillen http://bit.ly/bZ8JVg Ah well, looks like the fool will have to look elsewhere for his kicks. [...]