MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Publisher Electronic Arts alleges that Tim Langdell “intended to deceive” the United States Patent and Trademark Office with his treatment of the Edge trademark.
Tim Langdell, the owner of Edge Games so routinely embroiled in trademark disputes, had previously fired accusations at EA over its ambitious 2008 FPS Mirror’s Edge.
Langdell maintains his company has rights over the Edge name, and claims his firm is compromised by companies which use the title.
His legal position, however controversial and widely condemned, has not failed him previously in the eyes of the law.
But EA says the unpopular game designer has “deceived” the USPTO by continually relying on a trade mark that is not, in EA’s eyes, used legitimately.
The publisher has now filed its counterclaim against Langdell, and in an expectedly scathing submission, alleges that the publisher and other defendants “continue to be damaged by Langdell’s trademark abuse”.
EA’s counterclaim, unearthed on trade news site Industry Gamers, is quoted as saying: “Neither Langdell nor his alter ego companies have made any legitimate and good faith use of those marks in commerce.”
It added that Langdell’s business operation has “instead used the marks to assert baseless claims against third parties and to extract undeserved settlements, consisting of invalid naked licenses and assignments in gross which Langdell has used to maintain his fraudulently obtained registrations”.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has yet to make a ruling in the matter.
EA is seeking Langdell’s trademark protection be cancelled with the declaration that Edge Games has “no common law rights”.
The dispute continues.
