Email tennis from me and Mr. Langdell:
(Yes, my facebook settings are now on Pirate)
Rob Cox
Arrrrgust 7 roundabouts 12:25 in the evenin'
You greedy bastard.
Tim Langdell
Arrrrgust 7 roundabouts 2:11 in the evenin'
Report this foul scribblin' ter' the cap'n
Hello Rob
Do not believe the lies you read on the Internet about Edge Games. Edge has never taken a cent from any company for trademark rights. It has only sued one company in 30 years and withdrew that complaint when the parties reached an amicable resolution that did NOT involve Edge being paid any money. The dispute with Mobigame is over with Apple making the decision Mobigame were in the wrong to use our mark EDGE. Mobigame did not pay us any money and we did not demand money from Mobigame (do not believe the faked emails you see posted on the Internet that suggest otherwise).
Rob Cox
Arrrrgust 8 roundabouts 9:18 in the evenin'
Hmm, still don't see how you can trademark a common English word.
"Edge", the Mobigames game, had nothing to benefit from your company, EDGE, so you were technically in the wrong for seeing Mobigames as in the wrong. I'm sorry, but it's fairly despicable when a man on the board for the IGLA then outs a new, fledgling developer for simply having a common English word as it's title that you Trademarked.
It's like me trademarking the word "middle".
You could, at least, have also been kind enough to Mobigames to ask them politely to change the name BEFORE release of "Edge" rather than until they'd released it to the Apple store.
Tim Langdell
Arrrrgust 9 roundabouts 3:24 in the evenin'
Report this foul scribblin' ter' the cap'n
Hi Rob,
Obviously if you have made up your mind that Mobigame is in the right and Edge is in the wrong then there is nothing I can say that will change your mind. But I will make a couple of comments and invite you to think these points through. First, it has nothing to do with Mobigame benefiting from the company EDGE. If someone -- anyone -- uses your registered trademark mark then the law says you *have to* stop them (or get them to license the use from you) or you will lose your trademark rights. That is how the law works, Edge Games didnt invent that law, its just the way it is. So if your best friend uses your trademark in the same type of product you have to take action just as much as if some huge faceless conglomerate used your trademark. When Edge discovered it was a small indie developer with their first game that had used Edge's registered trademark Edge thought long and hard before doing anything since Edge had no interest in taking action against a fellow indie game developer. But Edge Games took legal advice and was told it had to at least send a Cease & Desist letter to Mobigames (which is all it did -- it never demanded money). Additionally, a very large game publisher with whom Edge was having a trademark dispute informed Edge that if it allowed *any* other game company -- small or large -- to use the registered mark Edge then it would have to permit that large company to use it too. Thus that company's pressure on Edge meant it was forced to contact Mobigame and ask them to stop using the name "Edge".
As to trademarking a common name, it is frequently done and Edge is entirely right to trademark and protect "EDGE" and "THE EDGE". Many other common names are trademarked - Apple, Blackberry, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Take 2, etc etc. And of course EDGE is trademarked for the Future magazine "Edge" (which no one seems to have an objection to ...) and Ford for car "Edge" and S.C Johnson for the "Edge" shaving gel. Yes, you could even trademark "Middle" if you used it enough and it became associated with the goods you sell. Remember, Edge Games and its licensees have sold over $5billion of games and other goods with the Edge and The Edge and other Edge trademarks so it cost a lot of money over the past 30 years to build up the trademark rights Edge has in "EDGE".
As to the timing: yes it is unfortunate that Edge Games did not hear about Mobigame's game until shortly after it was launched on iTunes. But to be fair, the soonest Edge might have heard about it was shortly before when it won awards and so the soonest Edge could have contacted Mobigame was after it had already won the award. In addition, a company cannot really take action for trademark infringement until the other company actually *uses* the mark -- so Edge would have had to wait until after the game went live on iTunes anyway. Last, all Mobigame had to do back in April was rename the game (to EDGY or whatever else they chose) and they would have been off iTunes for perhaps a few days at most. Why Mobigame refuse to change the name of their game even now that Apple decided their use was wrong and the US trademark office decided their application for the mark "EDGE" was not acceptable, is a great puzzlement to many people.
Rob Cox
Arrrrgust 9 roundabouts 3:42 in the evenin'
Just one other point, as you said, if you dont use legal action, you lose the rights to the word "Edge".
You have no idea how much your image would benefit if you gave up the rights as a "charitable offering". As I said, if you used a non-standard English word for your company's name, i.e, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft, words that can be trademarked without furore, and where, if used by someone else, is definitley breach of trademark.
MobiGames were legally in the wrong, I know, there's nothing I can do to change or deny that, but morally, and technically, they meant no harm.
Tim Langdell
Arrrrgust 9 roundabouts 4:15 in the evenin'
Report this foul scribblin' ter' the cap'n
First, asking Edge Games to give up its rights in "Edge" is asking it to give up its entire 30 year history and over $5billion. Do you really think that is a fair thing to ask? Remember, Edge Games has several trademark license agreements with very large companies that compel Edge to never allow any one else to use its trademark and prevent Edge from ever giving it away.
As to Mobigame not meaning to do harm. I disagree that Mobigame were innocent in this. David Papazian has now confirmed in several ways that last year BEFORE HE NAMED THE GAME he did thorough research in the trademark registries and saw that Edge Games owned the rights in THE EDGE, and that it has registrations for EDGE on its own in process, but thought he could get away with using the name Edge anyway. That was naive and he should have got a lawyers advice who would have told him his idea was very dangerous. But given he researched Edge Games ownership of the mark Edge and STILL went ahead and used it, I don't agree that he morally or technically meant no harm. He just thought he could get away with infringing Edge Games rights, did it with eyes wide open, and then was angry he got caught.
Again, Edge Games is entirely within its rights to use a common word and to protect use of that word, just as is the case for Apple, Blizzard, Windows, etc etc. No one is saying any of those companies are wrong to protect their common word trademarks, why are people singling Edge Games out? Because Mobigame is an indie developer? Well, Edge is an indie developer, too.
