Langdell hits back: ‘EA is losing its legal fight’

Langdell hits back: ‘EA is losing its legal fight’

Publisher supposedly failed to win second trademark bid for Mirror’s Edge, while the ‘Souledge’ mark is apparently revoked

New court documents in circulation suggest that EA is now winning the legal war against Edge Games, with trademark protection on the term ‘edge’ said to be close to cancellation.

Not so, according to the man at the centre of the row, Tim Langdell.

Edge Games boss Langdell tells Develop that the suggestions that EA is closing in on the controversial ‘edge’ trademark are untrue.

“On the contrary,” he says, “we have won every round against EA so far, just as we predicted we would.”

Langdell said it is “probably obvious” that EA DICE is the studio that sparked off the rumour – an allegation which is partially true as a current employee at the Battlefield studio posted the legal documents on his Twitter feed. The documents in question are public record.

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Electronic Arts crossed paths with Langdell following the release of the FPS Mirror’s Edge, a game with a title Langdell deemed unacceptable.

Langdell, as he does with all games which use the common noun ‘edge’, pursued legal action against the game’s developer DICE.

He now alleges that EA has recently lost its second attempt to register the trademark Mirror's Edge.

Langdell adds that, in September 2009, EA had “voluntarily abandoned” its trademark application, before seeking to register Mirror’s Edge “with a visual device”, of which the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) again rejected.

Langdell’s claims on the matter remain unverified, and the protracted and complex legal matter continues. Develop is in discussion with EA for comment.

The Edge Games boss added, “we are winning as we predicted we would.”

He said he filed a motion to dismiss EA’s legal pursuit and, while that was denied, the USPTO apparently rejected EA’s bid to brand the Edge trademark as fraudulent.

Langdell added that this leaves with few legal options, all of which he is confident Edge Games has the upper-hand on. He alleged that it is likely that EA “will shortly lose the fight in the US entirely”, adding that he is confident of winning the corresponding legal battle in the UK.

He adds, “In the meantime we got ‘Souledge’ revoked from the UK register, which stood as the only decision that had ever gone against us. We thus now have a 100 per cent record of winning all disputes involving the Edge mark in the US and UK and we will win against EA/EA DICE, too.”

A solution

posted by SteelFox Mar 25, 2010 at 4:22 pm
1

Perhaps EA should trademark the word Langdell and licence it to everyone but Edge Games for free then everyone could sue every time he signs a cheque?

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Won every round

posted by Pete Mar 25, 2010 at 4:35 pm
2
Pete

“we have won every round..." ...he filed a motion to dismiss EA’s legal pursuit and, while that was denied...

Nothing more awesome than the power to create one's own reality...

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That's not actually true though, is it?

posted by Sockatume Mar 26, 2010 at 7:56 am
3
Sockatume

Langdell's opposition to Souledge was denied on the basis of... well, read for yourself:

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/o33702.pdf

An opposition case was submitted last June but it's yet to be decided.

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-find-number?detailsrequested=H&trademark=2068253

I encourage anyone following this case to keep up with the documents on the UK IPO and USPTO web sites. Especially the latter as all the legal proceedings by both sides are in the public record and free to access.

http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92051465&pty=CAN

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No its not true, develop modify this article please!

posted by Digsy Mar 26, 2010 at 8:06 am
4
Digsy

USPTO rejected EA's fraud claims because they weren't written in the manner the USPTO requires. The USPTO asked them to resubmit the claims, and they've accepted that modified submission. The modified submission being the one where they outline all his fraud.

Please update this article Develop!

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Great

posted by mm Mar 26, 2010 at 9:20 am
5
mm

Langdell is going down!

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Oh boy...

posted by Leroy Freder Mar 26, 2010 at 11:06 am
6

This is so dumb, seriously, frigging trademark laws man.

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Well...

posted by Fran Mulhern Mar 26, 2010 at 2:46 pm
7
Fran Mulhern

"He said he filed a motion to dismiss EA’s legal pursuit and, while that was denied, the USPTO apparently rejected EA’s bid to brand the Edge trademark as fraudulent."

Yeah, cos the trademark isn't fraudulent.

It's just utter crap.

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the world....

posted by x08 Apr 01, 2010 at 4:47 am
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x08

Soon enough, people will start suing Webster for having words in the dictionary - or Wiki for having their comapny's name on there. Like... it's a word - not a product. I no longer feel safe telling my students to 'just do it'... as I may be sued.

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