EA takes a firm stance against Tim Langdell's EDGE copyrights

It's been quite a rollercoaster ride, following the legal shenanigans of Tim Langdell and his dubious copyright ownership of the word 'Edge', after it forced the removal of award-winning iPhone game Edge from the App Store, much to the chagrin of the gaming world.

Now EA is putting its megalithic weight behind the topic in an attempt to bring an end to the community wide difficulties of using the word 'edge' in video games.

"Since 2008, Registrant [Edge Games] has continuously threatened to file suit against EA for distributing the Mirror's Edge game on the basis of his purported 'family of registered EDGE marks'," read a statement from EA.

The gaming giant has apparently had enough of being embroiled in such legal wranglings with Langdell, and is now petitioning the US Patent & Trademark Office to have his copyrights cancelled.

"While this seems like a small issue for EA, we think that filing the complaint is the right thing to do for the developer community," EA continued. "We hope that as a result of this action, other developers will be less intimidated by unwarranted legal threats."

While Mobigames was an easier target for Langdell (though not much easier, it has to be said) to take on, the might of EA and its unlimited legal resources could be more than Egde Games is able to withstand. Langdell – who resigned from the board of the IGDA recently – remains resolute for the moment.

"[This is] a desperate attempt by EA to see if they can win the right to use Mirror's Edge by forcibly removing Edge's legitimate rights to Edge," edged Langdell in a statement to Kotaku, countering EA's argument as, "(…)comments intended to sway indie game news reporters' opinion and deflect you away from the obvious fact that it is EA [that] indie developers need to be protected from."

As Jack Thompson's disbarment suggested, the US courts don't take kindly to repeated law suits over the same subject, so one suspects this isn't likely to be an easy battle for the Langdell or his company.

02 September 2010 Four Door Lemon reveals QuizQuizQuiz's piracy rate is 23%

02 September 2010 SCVNGR and Quno to bring rail-play to UK stations

02 September 2010 Opinion: Is Unreal Engine 3's availability good for iOS developers?

02 September 2010 Shmup Dodonpachi Resurrection sells 30,000 in four days

01 September 2010 1.5 billion games and entertainment apps downloaded by iPod touches