After months of legal wrangling interspersed with the odd bit of name-calling, Mobigame’s hit iPhone game Edge is once again available at the App Store and this time it looks like it’s there to say.
The story should be familiar by now: Mobigame developed and released a game for the iPhone Edge that was popular enough to draw the attention of Dr. Tim Langdell, he of Edge Games fame, who has a reputation for threatening litigation against anyone who might be infringing upon one of his many “Edge” trademarks. Langdell filed a complaint with Apple, which responded by pulling the game from the App Store pending a proper licensing arrangement; unlike Langdell’s previous encounters, however, Mobigame was having none of it. The studio chose first to ignore him and then to fight, and in the end the whole thing pretty much blew up in Langdell’s face.
Now, as the dust is settling, it looks like we’re right back to where we started, with one rather big change: Edge is back on the App Store but Langdell appears to be entirely out of the picture. “Mobigame is pleased to announce that the award winning game Edge By Mobigame is to be rereleased on the App Store after several months spent dealing with the unmerited and unjustifiable claims of the now discredited Tim Langdell and his related companies,” Mobigame’s David Papazian said in a statement.
Mobigame has maintained from day one that it was in the right regarding Langdell’s allegations but it may be emboldened to crow about it a bit more by the fact that heavy hitter Electronic Arts has now waded into the fray, filing petitions in September to have several of Edge Games’ trademarks voided. EA’s timing, however, left the rather ironic appearance that its sudden willingness to take action was spurred largely by tiny Mobigame’s success in fighting off Edge’s threats.
“We remain convinced that we are and at all times were entitled to use the name ‘Edge’ and we are determined to continue our efforts to fight for that right and to support those who have been similarly affected,” Papazian continued. “We would stress that we have not reached any settlement or compromised our position in any way and would like to say a big thank you to all those who have supported us.”
Papazian also said that Mobigame’s next release, Cross Fingers, will be officially announced soon.
