App Store devs get "edge"-y as a reaction to trademark threats

New game title: "Monster Edge"

I wonder if this Tim guy has any relation to Monster Cable...

My name is Chad Edge - I'm screwed.

Props to all the devs doing this. I'll buy any app I notice with word edge inserted just to throw a middle finger at this asshat langdell.

Here's the thing: yes, I think this guy is being a moron for doing this, but also remember that Apple goes after anyone that has "pod" in their title.

For the record, I've just trademarked the letter "T," so TUAW will be getting a call from my lawyers soon. :-P

maybe The Edge should sue him...or Edge the wrestler. or even Rasor Ramon....cause he used the Razors edge. Or all Razor companies cause their blades have edges. It is really confusing.

Haha, I might have to rename my Shopify app Shopedgekeeper

The defense is simple: The developer whose app is pulled down just has to contact Apple and say that he is not willfully infringing Edge Games' trademarks. Apple has the obligation to put he app up again and the burden of proof will be on Edge Games. Edge Games cannot contact Apple to bring the app down again, what he has to do is actually sue the developer before a Court to win. These trademarks involving the term "edge" are not confusingly similar, so they have a good chance to prevail.
Anyway, contact your IP lawyer and let him tell you his thoughts on this.
:-)

More info: Distinction can be manifested through whimsy or, to put it more aptly, meaningless. A good example is Xerox, which is sheer whimsy and was utterly lacking in meaning before it became synonymous with making a copy. This is the kind of trademarkable invented word known technically as a neologism.â„¢ If the word can't be located in any primary dictionary, then it can be up for grabs for trademarking, though the lack of a prior definition is no guarantee.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/466166/a_guide_to_trademarking_words_and_phrases.html

More interesting info on how Apple can trademark "apple": http://www.secureyourtrademark.com/2007/11/trademark-registration-of-common-words.html

i don't think Langdell has made anything new in years.. i don't even think he has anything on the market right now. Tim Langdell is to games with edge in the name as Jack Thompson is to... video games. He's a one man RIAA.

all he does is sit around and file lawsuits when a new game with edge in the title is released

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDGE_Games

Edge Games has not released a new title since 1994

In May 2009, game developer Mobigame's iPhone title Edge[10] was removed from Apple's App Store in the US and the UK due to lawsuit threats by Tim Langdell. According to Mobigames, the dispute arose while they were trying to register a trademark for Edge in the US, while Langdell claims he owns the global trademark on "Edge."

According to the email dialogue between Langdell and Mobigames head David Papazian, shared with Eurogamer, Langdell delivered an ultimatum to Mobigames in exchange for a promise not to litigate. If they changed the game's name, he demanded 25% of the game's revenue for the time the title was on sale under the name "edge", and if they licenced the Edge name, they would give him 10% of the game's revenue in perpetuity and subtitle it "An Homage To [Edge Games title] Bobby Bearing", with the Edge Games logo on the title screen. Papazian claims that he suggested the alternative title "Edgy", but that this was rejected by Langdell as too similar to "Edge". Edge Games subsequently registered this name as a trademark. An Edge Games spokesperson, writing from Tim Langdell's personal email address and signing off as "Tim Langdell", claims that their registration was the result of a misunderstanding "probably in part caused by David Papazian's less than perfect English".

pic here
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-edge-of-reason