Mobigame: Langdell's lawyers have "fled"

By Robert Purchese Published 9 October, 2009

Defiance was a "strong signal to everyone".

Mobigame boss David Papazian has told Eurogamer that the tide has turned against Tim Langdell and his Edge videogame-name lawsuits, and hopes no other developer "will ever hear of him again".

"In the end, Langdell never sued us for past sales and all his lawyers fled, which is enough to prove that he has absolutely no legal grounds and everyone knows that now," said Papazian.

"More and more companies who are suffering from Tim Langdell are joining the fight. It is just the beginning. But it is a strong signal to everyone.

"As you may know, EA engaged a legal action against him and we believe that more companies will follow," he added. "It reminds me the story of Leo Stoller, another trademark troll who finished his career in jail."

Mobigame announced EDGE's return to the App Store yesterday, under the new name Edge by Mobigame - a collaborative decision by Mobigame and Sheridans, Papazian explained.

Yesterday's press release reaffirmed that Mobigame "had not reached any settlement or compromised our position in any way" in order to resell the iPhone puzzle game.

EA's petition against Langdell's trademarks may have been the turning point. Mobigame thinks EA's involvement is "amazing", but recognises the publisher had "no choice" but to defend Mirror's Edge. Landgell, Papazian added, had even pulled a similar stunt against Sony for using the PlayStation Edge name.

And apparently Langdell's meddling does not end there.

"If you know who Graeme Devine is, you will not be surprised to hear that Apple now supports us. Graeme had joined Apple's iPhone group this year, and today Tim Langdell is trying to sell a fake iPhone game on his fake store which is called Firebirds," said Papazian.

"He also stole an illustration from a 15 year-old girl on Deviant Art to make a fake cover. And the point is that Graeme created Firebirds in the '80s and I believe he owns the copyright on it."

Graeme Devine designed Quake III Arena as well as The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour. His most recent role was lead designer on Halo Wars at now defunct studio Ensemble.

Adding to EA and Apple's support is back-patting from The Chaos Engine, a forum for videogame developers. Despite Mobigame's upper-hand, however, the EDGE case is not resolved nor finished. Papazian hopes the end is in sight, though.

"We have still a lot of claims against Tim Langdell and his companies, but we want to move on and we hope that no game developers will ever hear of him again," he said. "The stress is still there, but we are confident."

Papazian closed by announcing that Cross Fingers, the next Mobigame game, will be revealed soon. "Future is bright," he said, extending his thanks to all of those offering their moral support.

Langdell hasn't responded publicly, as far as we can tell. We'll dig.

But enough of all this seriousness. It is Friday, and there may even be a humorous take on the Langdell vs. Mobigame case on YouTube, not that'd we'd know where to find it.

The original story has been tweaked minutely. You are not going crazy.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ChthonicEcho #1 2 years ago

    About time, really. Props to EA, in particular. I knew they were empathic teddy bears and not corporate cunts. Or perhaps being corporate cunts is why they stood up, after all.

    Oh, well. So long as we'll never see Langdell again, I'll be happy.

  • penhalion #2 2 years ago

    Can I please get to say I told you all this months ago and got rated down for it (yea I know I'll probably get rated down out of spite). I couldn't understand why anyone was giving in to Langdell. I tried to point out that only a very specific usage of a word can be copyrighted. You would have to copyright every individual usage er individually, to defend it against everyone else. Even then you'd loose any legal challenge if you were not actively using those copyrights.

  • Concrete #3 2 years ago

    Good news, well done EA, well done Mobigame, here's to the future with one less idiot getting in the way.

  • miiiguel #4 2 years ago

    This character pulls out some weird stunts, it's even a bit funny (easy for me to say, as I'm not involved though). A picture from a 15 yo... girl?! How devious is that? lol!
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/09 @ 10:53

  • darkmorgado #5 2 years ago

    I still want to know if they could potentially sue Langdell for lost earnings because of his false claims and harassment?
    Can anyone with a legal bent answer if they would have a case?

  • GreyScale #6 2 years ago

    I kind of get the feeling that Landell always knew that the jig could be up any time a serious legal challenge was made and was just trying his luck.

    I bet he has now fled to Brazil to live in a mansion built out of ten-pund notes obtained from fucking over software publishers and developers and is laughing all the way...

  • kangarootoo #7 2 years ago

    @penhalion

    "Can I please get to say I told you all this months ago"

    You already have done, multiple times ;)

  • SG #8 2 years ago

    That vid is awesome.

    miiguel, and for those who wish to follow the whole thing far more in depth, this is the site to see: http://chaosedge.word press.com/

    It explains EVERYTHING that Langdell has done of late. You'll see he's a bigger cunt than you first thought.
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/09 @ 11:01

  • cianchristopher #9 2 years ago

    I still can't believe EDGE magazine actually paid that guy off. That is a serious black mark on their reputation.

    I used to love that mag and had the utmost respect for their reviews and scores (loved the way they'd only give out a 10 every couple of years or so), but really, I wish they hadn't become involved in this mess and I hate to think that any of the money i spent on their magazine went to that fucking dickhead.

  • davisorle #10 2 years ago

    I dont really care but I just have to say that the momment i read "Defiance" under the article I just realised we DO need an incredible new Soul Reaver for this Gen's consoles/PC.

  • Vroom #11 2 years ago

    Good news indeed.

  • Kami #12 2 years ago

    First point on lost earnings - Mobigame don't really have a case against Langdell, that would be with Apple and I think the prase "don't bite the hand that feeds you" is appropriate here.

    Second point - EA suing Langdell is not strictly accurate, they have moved to have his marks cancelled, and if you read the legal papers it is not just that, but a public and thorough annihilation of Langdell in every respect - they have pointed out his usage of other peoples images, works and fake mock-ups that they claim may even constitute as fraud. This is far beyond his public humiliation at the hands of IGDA members, this destroys any and all credibility Langdell had across his career, basically calling him on everything he has done in the past 14 years and more. It's like dropping a nuclear bomb in his back garden, it is tremendously excessive but actually rather impressive to boot (One more link to EA's challenge).

    Third point - It actually stuns me that Langdell was silly enough to put up a fake game in his store on which he did not own the copyright. What surprises me more is the copyright holder is working for Apple. Langdell was never known for his research abilities, and using the artwork of a 15-year-old girl is also rather amazing. But it gets worse. There has been a questionmark over Mythora, a game he claims to own the rights to (but there is zero mention of EDGE or Langdell in the credits of the game), and when someone did order the game they found it was on a CD-RW - hardly the sign of a professional. If it is covered that Langdell did sell this game in breach of a copyright he is in serious legal shit that makes the EA suit look like a day at a theme park, and I am of the understanding that this question is already being asked legally. And it doesn't end with Mythora and Firebirds...

    Finally, Langdell is finished. Between Mythora (or is that The Banished? Time will tell.), the IGDA, ChaosEdge, Apple, Mobigame and EA, this is a man who in the past few months has been stripped of any and all credibility, a man who is set to lose his lucrative trademark squatting riches and a man who is likely going to spend some time in prison if he really has broken these copyrights. He has been discredited so thoroughly that his life is more or less over. Even if he deserves it, he is now gone and done and dusted, it is now time we just let the last few legal processes finish him off and move on. He can harm no-one ever again.

    edit; and on the subject of EDGE magazine, you may not be surprised but all of this is conjecture, the reality is that he may indeed have tried to sue EDGE Magazine but he has never been paid off by Future Publishing, and he does not seem to have any connection to the magazine other than using the logo - which even now, the legalities of which have been called into question, and it will be up to Langdell to prove his case.

    A final final point is that the laws in the US are different than in the UK. Langdell must have known this. Here, if you say something nasty about someone it is potentially libelous. In the US, it's only libel if the person being smeared can prove it to be untrue. It would appear vacating the UK and going to the US was probably a silly move...
    Edited by 2 at 09/10/09 @ 14:46

  • smernicki #13 2 years ago

    great news, langdell is a cunt

  • kangarootoo #14 2 years ago

    @EarlBassett

    That "related content" tab, top right of the article text. That is your background.

  • Widge #15 2 years ago

    Its like the moment in Command and Conquer where you've spent 1 hour amassing GDI tanks, aircraft and troops, repelling skirmishes at your borders, to finally unleash them on some overrunning destruction on the Brotherhood Of Nod final base camp, headed up by Kane Langdell.

    EA readying the Ion Cannon.

  • Artemus #16 2 years ago

    Good news for Mobigame. It's just annoying that it has taken this long. It's amazing that Langdell has been able to get away with it for so many years.

  • kendoji #17 2 years ago

    Sounds good. If I had an iPhone I'd buy that Mobigame game to support them.

  • bumgut #18 2 years ago

    LANGDEELLLLLLL!!!!

  • thedaveeyres #19 2 years ago

    If I somehow travelled back in time a couple of years and told the then-me that in the future, EA was going to go out of its way to preserve the rights of independent studios and generally act like the Good Guy, I'd have cunted my future-self in the fuck.

  • Razz #20 2 years ago

    I hope Edge comes out for Android.

  • Markusdragon #21 2 years ago

    The legal department of whoever is publishing Edge of Twilight in the states should fear for their jobs; they basically handed over the trademark to their title to Langdell a few months back, and now a much smaller company has utterly crushed his legal claims.

  • anomagnus #22 2 years ago

    a remarkable synopsis of events kami, and very true.

    EA's legal document is a brutal deconstruction of a man and his lies as i have ever read.

    I'll admit, that even i began to feel a twinge of pity for the man, as page after page rendered this cunt down into constituent parts. I quashed that pity once i remembered what an utter and complete cunt this man is.

  • Pirotic #23 2 years ago

    Hey ho the witch is dead!

    Wait, witch is female right. So he'd be a warlock? but that'd give the impression he's far cooler than he is. So I'll call him a witch instead, plus he has the nose and hair for it right. What he's lost from the legal fines he could easily make up in panto.

  • Kami #24 2 years ago

    Fear me and my uber-uber-leet nutshelling skills! XD

    I've been laughing my ass off over this though for a while now, since Langdell was being asked to step down from the IGDA. The fact that this is merely the tip of the iceberg is what makes me love this - and Langdell is Titanic, he is so going down. I mean, forget the rest, the reality is that his EDGE store doesn't just infringe copyrights, it breaks the law in numerous countries and people are now fully aware of this, so do not be surprised to see Langdell imprisoned in the next year or two.

    Last year it was Jack Thompson. This year Tim Langdell. Who will be next years target? Stay tuned...

    edit; Really genuinely last thing to say, but I am almost sure that Edge going back on the Apple store is baiting Langdell, the same as the suit from EA is. I suspect that the lawyers of these companies are fully aware that Langdell has no bite to his bark and they're luring him into a trap so they can bury him once and for all.

    Or maybe I'm giving the lawyers too much credit. After all, we all know the joke don't we? "What do you call a hundred lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?"
    Edited by 2 at 09/10/09 @ 15:15

  • olver #25 2 years ago

    I'm surprised that I'd never heard of this reprehensible prick before, but having read all of the available information, I'm heartily glad that now I have, he's already getting fucked, and I don't have to wring my hands over the injustice of it all, except in retrospect. Seriously, what a COMPLETE AND UTTER CUNT

  • stephen #26 2 years ago

    FOR GREAT JUSTICE.

  • VandelayIndustries #27 2 years ago

    ....... and so karma has come crashing down on Langdell. Excellent!

  • agparrot #28 2 years ago

    lol.

    Glad you couldn't find that youtube link, it wouldn't have been extremely funny, and I definitely wouldn't have spilt coffee on myself.

    Brilliant.

  • Les #29 2 years ago

    "I couldn't understand why anyone was giving in to Langdell. I tried to point out that only a very specific usage of a word can be copyrighted."

    You're missing the point: There are more reasons to give in than to fear that you might lose a case. Legal battles are expensive and annoying and inexperienced people might get overwhelmed by it all.

  • actionfitz #30 2 years ago

    reports that Tim Langdell has since been offered a job at Activision remain unconfirmed...

    lol.

  • smelly #31 2 years ago

    "I couldn't understand why anyone was giving in to Langdell. I tried to point out that only a very specific usage of a word can be copyrighted."

    1. Trademark not copyright
    2. You have a game which has cost millions to make. You NEED to get it in shops to pay the bills asap. Someone comes along and says they own the trademark for "war" either you change the game (requiring you to destroy all the cds you've printed/etc etc), you backdown and pay up.. Or you go to court (meaning you wont be allowed to release said game until court case is done).

    You know you're in the right.. but you cant afford to NOT have the game in the stores NOW.. Let alone pay for all the legal fees, etc etc. And lets just say you DID go to court, then the joker at the other end requests a 3 month extension (look into the history of E's legal precedings)... etc etc... Next thing you know 6 months have passed.

    And in games industry 6 months is a VERY long time... Gamers would've long since gotten uninterested, yadda yadda.

  • IP #32 2 years ago

    Well, Langdell certainly painted Papazian as a Bond-style villain, sitting in his golden castle, stroking his evil cat, and concocting a plan so cunning and intricate regarding Edge marks that it made the mind boggle.

  • ph101 #33 2 years ago

    Future publishing should be looking hard at their lawyers.... They seem to have done a deal with this guy. But a cursory look at the registrations he threatened them with reveals them apparently to all be false, as EA reveal. heh..

  • IP #34 2 years ago

    Future has no current deal with Langell, nor has the company authorised Edge Games to use its logo or a variation thereof.

  • Sar #35 2 years ago

    Bought this as soon as it came back up. I just missed out on a purchase the first time round, and happily gave my £3 to Mobigame.

    Fuck you Tim Langdell. In the ass with hot pokers!

  • frenchlies #36 2 years ago

    Bought the game today, after all the crap he's been through Papazian deserves my money. Here's hoping Langdell gets to enjoy the effects of all that negative karma for years to come.

  • motorsport #37 2 years ago

    His lawyers have... fled? WOW. I can't recall having heard of that in quite a while....

    Hilarious.

    Glad to see the troll getting a foot up his ass. Legally speaking, of course.