Most people who surf the Internet are aware of trolls: malicious people who derive pleasure from intentionally upsetting others on chat rooms and comment boards. But what many don’t realize is that trolling is also present offline as well, and often manifests itself in unusual ways. Such is the case with patent trolls, people who register patents for broadly-defined mechanisms or claim trademarks on frequently used names solely for the opportunity to sue other companies that use a similar mechanism or system later in the future.
Patent trolls have little interest in actually using their patent or trademark, choosing instead to sue any larger corporation that uses a near-identical mechanism or name for infringement and demanding several millions of dollars in damages. Their tactics are particularly insidious because they’re entirely legal, and in fact rely on the court system in order to succeed. If they are too obvious in their shameless money-grubbing then of course the judge can refuse to award them, but rarely are patent trolls ever punished for their actions.
A Spotty History
That’s partly why the recent cases against Edge Games have been so surprising. Edge Games was originally a British game company that was fairly successful in creating a large number of games for pre-Nintendo game consoles like the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. In the 1990s, Edge Games moved to California and “broadened its reach into a wider section of the entertainment industry”. Specifically, Edge Games’ founder Dr. Tim Langdell trademarked ‘Edge’, ‘The Edge’, ’Edge Games’ and other similar phrases using the word ‘Edge’.
From there, Edge Games licensed the name to anyone who wanted it, for a fee of course. Among those who licensed the name include EDGE Magazine, a computer and videogaming magazine, Marvel Comics for their Edge line of comics, and 20th Century Fox for a film starring Anthony Hopkins titled Edge. Those who used the name Edge but refused to license the name from Edge Games were sued until they either paid or changed the name of their product. Game publisher Namco changed the name of their fighting game series Soul Edge to Soul Calibur specifically to avoid lawsuits from Edge Games.
Kicking The Little Guy
But this changed in 2009, when Edge Games threatened to sue Mobigame, an independent developer of iPhone games, when they refused to pay the trademark license fee requested by Langdell, and asked Apple to remove their game Edge from the App Store. Public backlash was immediate and because of his attack on the small developer, who were nearly broke and unable to financially defend themselves in court, Langdell made an enemy of the indie game community, who quickly gained massive support from the gaming media and gamers at large.
Soon after the Mobigame dispute became public knowledge, it was learned that Tim Langdell held a seat on the Board of Directors of the International Game Developers Association. The IGDA “is the largest non-profit membership organization serving individuals who create video games” and yet here was one of their Board of Directors suing the people they purported to protect. The backlash was again immediate, with calls for Langdell’s removal coming from both the public and within the IGDA. To avoid the embarrassment of being publicly fired, Langdell instead resigned.
Waking a Sleeping Giant
Mobigame continued to battle Edge Games, retitling their game Edge by Mobigame and then Edgy in order to have it placed back in the App Store. But by this point, Mobigame was no longer the main focus of Edge Games’ ire. In September of 2009, Electronic Arts, a giant videogame publishing company had filed a request with the courts to cancel several of Edge Games’ trademarks, specifically ‘Edge’, ‘Cutting Edge’, ‘The Edge’ and ‘Gamer’s Edge’.
EA filed the request in retaliation against Edge Games. Prior to the release of their first-person platformer Mirror’s Edge in 2008, EA and Edge Games had been in discussions over licensing for the “Edge” trademark. When EA walked away from the table and released the game without the license, Langdell “continuously threatened” to sue the company. In June of 2010, Langdell finally did, taking EA to court for trademark infringement.
The Plan Backfired
The lawsuit did not end well for Tim Langdell. The court threw out his lawsuit against EA, citing the “suspect nature” of Langdell’s business activities, with U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup asking if they “legitimately extend beyond trolling various gaming-related industries for licensing opportunities”. EA was stated as having “compelling evidence” of Edge Games’ disinterest in creating actual games bearing their trademark, especially since the evidence provided by Edge Games’ amounted to little more than fake game box and magazine covers.
From there, the news only got worse for Langdell. The courts found evidence of possible fraud in the applications Langdell sent to the US Patent and Trademark Office, opening the possibility for pressing criminal charges against him. Additionally, Judge Alsup signed off on EA’s initial request to strip him of his ‘Edge’-related trademarks, and ordered him to notify all licensees that he no longer holds the trademarks and they are no longer required to pay his company. This also leaves him legally vulnerable to the companies he sued or forced to pay licensing fees under threat of a lawsuit. And on top of all that, the IGDA announced that because of Langdell’s ethically questionable actions, his membership with them would be dropped.
The Aftermath
Langdell’s greedy behaviour was greatly reviled by gamers and his defeat is looked upon as a victory for the gaming industry over its enemy. But patent trolls still exist and in the ever-expanding gaming market, there are still many people looking to get rich quick off of the backs of other companies. Hopefully, now that a precedent in the courts has been set, stopping patent trolling may become easier in the future.
Marc Patterson - I am a twentysomething student studying at Halifax's Saint Mary's University. I have a love of videogames and for geek subjects in general ...
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