Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:21:00 GMT
A quick news bite for anyone following the Tim Langdell controversy: Dr. Langdell has stepped down from the IGDA Board of Directors, effective immediately.
For more information on Tim Langdell / Edge Games, visit our Edge Games Info Page. There’s also a long-running thread on the conflict with Mobigame in the forums.
I cannot say what this means for the future of Edge.
Posted by Derek Yu Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:10:00 GMT
To the Tim Langdell/Edge Games page I’ve added links to documents pertaining to the Cybernet Systems v. Edge Games case (which is still ongoing, despite the fact that Cybernet’s Edge of Extinction has been inactive since 2002). These documents were obtained through PACER, a service that provides online access to court records. Anyone can get an account and the data is considered public record.
Among these documents are emails sent by Tim to Cybernet, as well as various exhibits submitted to the court by both parties. One of these exhibits, shown above right, is a really curious thing – to me it looks like a very amateurish mock-up of an Edge Magazine cover (the real issue from July 2004 is shown on the left). I’m wondering what it’s actually supposed to be, because in “Answer to Complaint, Counter-Claim, and Affirmative Defenses,” it states that the exhibit is a sample “of the EDGE brand as used in connection with computer hardware in various formats.”
The rest of my opinions are hidden behind this jump:
Read more...Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:55:00 GMT
I want this image of Tim Langdell’s face to be seared into the hearts and minds of every person who has ever worked hard to create something of personal value. Memorize it. Take in every loathsome detail. But make special note of the smile. That smile… is the smile of a man who has never known the feeling of creating something in any real sense. It’s the smile of a man, or some semblance of one, who instead wants to take that feeling from other people, prying it out of their hands with cease-and-desist letters and other tenuous legal threats so that he may satisfy his own barren womb. Like an aging and desperate Captain Hook, he strangles Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys for some of their pixie dust so that he might feel the feeling of flight.!
That’s right, Tim Langdell/Edge Games is still threatening game developers over the word “Edge.” Here’s a recap:
1. David Papazian and Mobigame are still being antagonized by Langdell. They’ve received another cease-and-desist from lawyers representing Edge Games1 and Ninomojo revealed on TIGForums that the iPhone game Edge has been removed from the App Store again.
2. Edge Games is now also targeting another indie iPhone developer who would like to remain anonymous right now (although it shouldn’t be hard to guess what word the game has in its title).2
3. In what appears to be another preemptive move by Langdell, Edge Games obtained a trademark for “Edge of Twilight” on June 1st, which is the name of an upcoming game for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.3 Fuzzyeyes third-person action/platform game has been around since at least 2007.4
4. Tim Langdell is, of course, still on the Board of Directors at the IGDA. But I’m honestly going to start leaving this fact out as it’s still not obvious to me what the IGDA accomplishes beyond insulting the very people who the organization should be helping. Seriously, if you’re unhappy with the IGDA, stop yelling at a brick wall (that occasionally insults you) and just drop your membership when the time comes. Then start or join an unaffiliated online community or a local game development group in your city.
To address the question of “how does he get away with it,” well, as far as I know there’s nothing illegal about sending people cease-and-desist letters. I’ve never really doubted that what Tim is doing is legal. But is it necessary? No, it’s clear to me that there would be very little confusion over whether any of these games came from Edge Games. And in my opinion it is a serious abuse of laws that are meant to promote growth and innovation by protecting creators... what I see here is the opposite.
By the way, I’m compiling a centralized page of information regarding Tim and Edge Games here on TIGSource, including quotes from various developers who claim to have worked with Tim. If you have any more information or can help verify some of this stuff, please post here in the comments or e-mail me. Obviously first-person source material is the best.
The more successful Tim is, the harder it is for the next guy or gal who has the misfortune of having to deal with him. So don’t forget that face. As painful a prospect as it might seem.
1 Fingergaming, “Edge Trademark War Continues On Multiple Fronts”
2 Fingergaming, “Edge Trademark War Continues On Multiple Fronts”
3 Kotaku, “Trademark Troll Is at It Again”
4 YouTube, Edge of Twilight Trailer
!These are strictly opinions of the author and should not be construed as fact.
Posted by Derek Yu Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:13:00 GMT
Now that Classics Week and E3 are over, I’d like to come back to Tim Langdell for a moment, because I personally consider it to be not only a fascinating topic, but also an important one that raises a lot of issues important to the community, including intellectual property and the role of the IGDA. A lot has come up since my last post, and unfortunately, it’s spread relatively thinly across a number of interesting discussions. I’m going to do my best to summarize and provide links to source material so that people can have a better understanding of what’s going on. I make no pretensions about my personal feelings on the matter, but please consider that anything that I say for which I do not explicitly provide a source are my own opinions. I will try to make it as clear as possible when they are.
Also, apologies to the readers who come here looking for news on new games to play and are uninterested in this story. There will be some very soon, and I’ll hide the rest of the post under a jump so that you can easily and quickly move on.
Read more...Posted by Derek Yu Fri, 29 May 2009 21:46:00 GMT
Mobigame’s award-winning iPhone game Edge has been removed from the App Store, pending a legal battle with Tim Langdell (pictured at right) over the trademark “Edge.” What’s troubling is that, according to a GameSetWatch article by Simon Carless, Langdell, who founded and owns the company Edge Games, has had a history of using his trademark to cause creators grief and to link himself with various high-profile media projects, including, but not limited to, games.
If you look on Tim’s Wikipedia page, you’ll notice that he is associated with Edge Magazine, a Malibu Comics character named Edge, and also the movie The Edge, starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. What Tim actually did on any of these projects is questionable, but my guess would be that it’s about as much work as he will do for Edge, the iPhone game, once all the dust settles. Namely, he threatened to sue the living fuck out of anyone in his path (mind you, this is conjecture).
You may also notice that the Wikipedia entry is oddly detailed and poorly cited for a man who no one has really given a shit about until now… it’s also under a neutrality dispute. And no wonder – the entire page is almost single-handedly the creation of user Cheridavis, who, very coincidentally, shares the name of Tim’s wife, Cheri Davis Langdell. When pressed on the issue of neutrality, Cheridavis wrote: “You are mistaken. I am writing a book on founding members of the game industry and noticed that Tim Langdell was one of the only people missing from Wikipedia. The article I created is based on my research, not on being Tim Langdell or knowing him personally.” That would be Tim Langdell, the husband of Cheri Davis Langdell, the founder of the game industry, the producer of such notable titles as Fairlight and Snoopy: The Case of the Missing Blanket, and the man who participated in these three roundtables at GDC this year:
- Who Controls a Game’s IP and Who Reaps the Financial Benefit?
- How to Design Your Game So That its IP is More Valuable to Hollywood
- How to Sell Your IP to Hollywood (Without Selling Your Soul)
If you’re wondering where Simon’s article for GSW went, it is, for whatever reason (heh), not available anymore. Unless you go to NeoGAF or any of the other places the article has been reposted. And if, after reading this, you’re wondering, like I was, about Mirror’s Edge, you’ll be happy to note that Mr. Langdell’s EDGE Games is currently working on a new game called “Mirrors a game from Edge,” which I’m sure will not conflict in any way with the popular parkour-inspired FPS.
Jokes aside, the most frightening thing about this entire debacle is not how greedy and disingenuous human beings can be (you should be used to it by now), but that Mr. Greedyguts himself is a board member on the IGDA, a non-profit organization created to empower game developers and advocate on their behalf. Which is, in this author’s distinct opinion and should in no way be construed as a fact, somewhat like having Joseph Mengele on the board of the Red Cross. It’s absolutely fucking ridiculous and brings the credibility of the organization to serious question. How does this happen and what are they going to do about it?
Thanks to mklee for pointing this out, via TIGForums. Thanks to John Nesky for pointing out the GDC roundtables.
Update: The IGDA has responded, and so has Tom Buscaglia, the “Game Attorney” (and also an IGDA board member).
Update 2: The follow-up to this article can be found here.
