It was revealed today that Tim Langdell, the man behind Edge Games, has comprehensively lost his lawsuit claiming that EA had infringed his “EDGE” trademarks when it released “Mirror’s Edge”. The case is one of a number of recent attempts by Langdell to protect these alleged trademarks – all of which are thrown into serious question as a result of this case.
I spoke with Alec Meer over at Gamesindustry.biz about what the Langdell and EA lawsuit really means. Also, I spoke with Rob Crossley at Develop about the potential legal consequences for Langdell and Edge Games themselves. Busy day!
You can read the interviews for all the info, but there is one key practical message which I want to reinforce now:
- This case is a timely reminder that games are essentially intellectual property and when it comes right down to it you need to go back to things like trademarks and copyright if you actually want to protect your game.
- BUT, litigation is timely and expensive – so you need to have carefully considered your options and the legal merits before you start a lawsuit. If in doubt, talk to a friendly games lawyer. It could save you a lot of money, time and avoid the kind of negative PR that Mr Langdell is now going through.
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