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Mobigame pulls iPhone game EDGY from the App Store amid legal battle

Deja vu

Mobigame pulls iPhone game EDGY from the App Store amid legal battle
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| Edge

It looked like Langdell/Edge fiasco was coming to a close when Mobigame re-released Edge as EDGY on the App Store. This was the third time that the name was changed in a bid to avoid Tim Langdell's current ownership of the Edge trademark in a video game context.

Mobigame has seen fit to remove the app once again - despite an apparently amicable resolution with Langdell - because the developer fears Langdell will use the legal precedent in his attack against the developer giant EA.

According to Develop, Mobigame's co-founder David Papazian fears that Langdell is trying to retroactively claim ownership of Mobigame's Edge.

“We believe Langdell is trying to use us against EA and other companies to claim that he sold an iPhone game,” Papazian writes. “In these conditions Mobigame has no other choice than pulling the version of the game named Edgy for the US/UK.”

Mobigame says a name change, “is sending the wrong signal, and gives the wrong impression that Tim Langdell has won the battle against independent developers.”

EA entered the dispute with its attempt to release Mirror's Edge onto the App Store, another supposed trademark infringement. Quite how Apple will react we can't say, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

EA's main weapon in its legal argument is that Langdell has not produced any meaningful content in the last three years under the Edge brand, and is keeping hold of a dormant trademark. Langdell obviously disagrees.

The multiple name changes look to give the ex-IDGA board member ammunition against EA.

Founder of indie dev association Indievision Richard Hall-Whitall said, “Will they [Apple] set different rules for EA than those they set in the Mobigame (and Killer Edge Racing) dispute?

"We are yet again appalled by the recent comments from Langdell and are very keen to see a final - positive - resolution to this whole affair."

Ben Griffin
Ben Griffin
Having said farewell to university life, Ben decided to follow his ultimate dream of getting paid to play games. Luckily, Pocket Gamer was more than happy to help in his quest.