Edge developer Mobigame responds to Langdell claims

Yesterday and today there's been a bit of friction between Edge Games chief Tim Langdell and, well, the rest of video game industry after a Dice employee prematurely announced on Twitter that EA had been successful in its bid to have Langdell's trademark ownership of the word 'Edge' in a video game context cancelled.

First there were claims that Langdell was close to losing the trademark, and then there was a rebuttal from an Edge Games 'spokesperson' (on Eurogamer) insisting that the company is 'completely certain' of victory.

We contacted Mobigame's David Papazian (beleagered developer of puzzle game Edge) for comment, and here's what Papazian, along with Stephen Hey of publisher Connect2Media, had to say in full:

Mobigame and Connect2Media issue this joint press statement in response to recent comments in the media by Edge Games. It has particularly become necessary to make this statement because of the assertion by Edge Games that it is confident Connect2Media will remove Edge from sale.

[Editor's note: Edge doesn't currently appear to be available on the UK App Store.]

Both Mobigame and Connect2Media have taken extensive legal advice on this issue, and neither company considers that Edge Games has any enforceable registered trade marks in relation to computer games. The US and UK Trade Marks that Edge Games typically refer to when making their claims of infringement, are either not yet registered, subject to revocation/opposition proceedings or irrelevant to the field of computer games. Of those Edge Games’ registered trade marks which are currently subject to revocation/opposition proceedings, the legal advice obtained by Mobigame is that they will almost certainly be revoked or cancelled by the respective Trade Mark Offices.

In view of the above, neither Mobigame nor Connect2Media intend to concede to the demands made by Edge Games, by removing Edge from sale anywhere in the world, or by changing its name.

A spokesperson for Connect 2 Media comments that:

“We consider Edge to be one of the most innovative games currently available in the mobile domain, and we are working closely with our licensor, Mobigame, to fully defend the spurious claims that have made by Edge Games, which we consider to have no legal basis.”

Mobigame and Connect2Media also consider that Edge Games is deliberately misrepresenting the nature and merits of its claims against Mobigame and Connect2Media (and the position in third parties such as Apple) in order to hinder their sales of Edge. Mobigame and Connect2Media consider any such statements to be defamatory, and they may in future claim damages from Edge Games and/or Dr Timothy Langdell in respect of any losses arising from the defamatory statements.

For further information contact:

Mobigame: David Papazian ([email protected])
Connect2Media: Stephen Hey ([email protected])