Tim Langdell Loses IGDA Membership

[lacktheknack]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer douchebag failpony assmunch jackass douchenozzle asswipe I really don't like Tim Langdell.

You forgot fucknugget, shit-for-brains, dickwad, and boil on the ass of society.

Or "Douchecanoe of the Year".

So, how long 'til he falls all the way down?

 

[flying_whimsy]

haha, I was just telling my econ professor about all the trademarks getting stripped away, and now this? Schadenfreudetastic.

 

[ENKC]

I have never once heard of this person. And still I do not understand what he's supposed to have done wrong other than launching a dodgy copyright claim.

 

[Niccolo]

hahaha.... oh langdell... It's so nice to see that sometimes, the bad guy loses.

He really REALLY REALLY should not have poked EA. I mean, what was he THINKING?

Edge Games was doing well as a trademark troll, but then he decided to be a jerk to EA Games over Mirror's Edge.. There was a lot of bad press for Edge Games over its treatment of that block game on the iPhone.

A lot of indie devs got behind the victim in that case, but it would have gone away, he would have been ok.

But he saw Mirror's Edge and HAD to poke the bear.

Now he's absolutely destroyed.

And we all loved every minute of it, didn't we?

Admit it... there's no love lost for EA, but we were all cheering wholeheartedly for them the moment Langdell caught a glimpse of Mirror's Edge.

I can't stand EA and I freely admit that I was cheering wildly for them throughthis whole fracas.

I have never once heard of this person. And still I do not understand what he's supposed to have done wrong other than launching a dodgy copyright claim.

it wasn't that he made a dodgy copyright claim, it's that he made many. Copyright law basically says that you can copyright an idea or something, but you're not relaly supposed to sit on the idea and do nothing with it for ten years. Tim Langdell copyrighted his company's name ("EDGE") and then made one game Lord knows how long ago and since then has sued any and every company that released a game with the word "Edge" in the title. He argued that it was an infringement on his company's copyright and the companies must attach a message to the box saying "The use of the word EDGE is trademarked by Tim Langdell" or some bull like that.

He basically just made a nuisance of himself by picking on smaller companies that couldn't fight off his lawyers... and then decided to pick on EA. Which is why Tim Langdell is now suffering so badly - EA have very good lawyers.

 

[mattttherman3]

Well it seems the ass holes that are either in the industry or against it have been disgraced in some way, wonder when that senator for the games legislation will be caught doing something?

 

[Double A]

Did he actually make a game...?

 

[RowdyRodimus]

He looks like someone stuck Nic Cage and Tom Green in a blender.

So I was right in my initial impression of the pic with "Who is this douchebag?"

 

[Hungry Donner]

"According to government records the only names not yet trademarked are popplers and zitsels."

 

[Super Toast]

The guy has an ego the size of the moon. I hope this brought him down to earth.

 

[Royas]

Langdell said at the time that he was confident a vote at the meeting would go his way but was stepping down in order to save the IGDA from further bad press and a continuing drain on its resources at the hands of a "vocal minority."

Apparently, that "vocal minority" has just become a "voting majority".

 

[Sartan0]

It wasn't that he made a dodgy copyright claim, it's that he made many. Copyright law basically says that you can copyright an idea or something, but you're not really supposed to sit on the idea and do nothing with it for ten years.

Actually you can copyright the expression of idea but not the idea it's self. Trademark is a bit different and that is what we are dealing with here.

 

[Snotnarok]

The guy has an ego the size of the moon. I hope this brought him down to earth.

Ignoring your metaphor entirely, moon hitting the earth is a bad idea. Let's just go with hell, better idea yeah? haha.

 

[Andy Chalk]

He really REALLY REALLY should not have poked EA. I mean, what was he THINKING?

I don't think he had much of a choice. If he lets Mirror's Edge slide, then he's basically opening the door for anyone and everyone else who wants to use an "Edge" variant name as well. If he skips EA and then goes after some poor indie iPhone studio six months later, the obvious question he'd had to answer is, why these guys and not EA? If the trademark is solid, it'll stand up to scrutiny no matter how many lawyers EA throws at it, and if it's not... well, we saw what happened.

I think Langdell could've mitigated the damage if he'd rolled with it, handled the trademarks and licensing demands different and maybe, you know, actually put out a game. But he took his shot for all the marbles, and he lost. Now we get to watch him publicly destroyed.

 

[RelexCryo]

This would be the Tim Langdell whose business practices The Escapist inexplicably defended in an article that Russ Pitts refused to retract? That Tim Langdell?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/op-ed/6401-Edge-or-Edgy-The-Clash-of-Two-Game-Makers-Update

Andy Chalk wrote that. Russ Pitts could delete it, but he can't really retract a statement he didn't make. Only Andy Chalk could retract that article, since he is the author.

Russ Pitts sent an email requesting information, and forwarded that information to Andy Chalk. He didn't actually write the article.

 

[Knight Templar]

It's so cathartic to watch such an arsehole be undone by his own hand.

He really REALLY REALLY should not have poked EA. I mean, what was he THINKING?

I don't think he had much of a choice. If he lets Mirror's Edge slide, then he's basically opening the door for anyone and everyone else who wants to use an "Edge" variant name as well. If he skips EA and then goes after some poor indie iPhone studio six months later, the obvious question he'd had to answer is, why these guys and not EA? If the trademark is solid, it'll stand up to scrutiny no matter how many lawyers EA throws at it, and if it's not... well, we saw what happened.

I think Langdell could've mitigated the damage if he'd rolled with it, handled the trademarks and licensing demands different and maybe, you know, actually put out a game. But he took his shot for all the marbles, and he lost. Now we get to watch him publicly destroyed.

But isn't EA able to just bury people in legal costs? How often does a lone hyena attack an elephant?

 

[Niccolo]

It wasn't that he made a dodgy copyright claim, it's that he made many. Copyright law basically says that you can copyright an idea or something, but you're not really supposed to sit on the idea and do nothing with it for ten years.

Actually you can copyright the expression of idea but not the idea it's self. Trademark is a bit different and that is what we are dealing with here.

Eh, I knew it was something like that. I always get the two mixed up.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

This is the application of the real life BANHAMMER. Dumbass, don't troll.

 

[SimuLord]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer douchebag failpony assmunch jackass douchenozzle asswipe I really don't like Tim Langdell.

You forgot fucknugget, shit-for-brains, dickwad, and boil on the ass of society.

Or "Douchecanoe of the Year".

So, how long 'til he falls all the way down?

We could always let the Nostalgia Critic do the work for us...

Spoiler: warning, NSFW, strong language

 

[Altorin]

He really REALLY REALLY should not have poked EA. I mean, what was he THINKING?

I don't think he had much of a choice. If he lets Mirror's Edge slide, then he's basically opening the door for anyone and everyone else who wants to use an "Edge" variant name as well. If he skips EA and then goes after some poor indie iPhone studio six months later, the obvious question he'd had to answer is, why these guys and not EA? If the trademark is solid, it'll stand up to scrutiny no matter how many lawyers EA throws at it, and if it's not... well, we saw what happened.

I think Langdell could've mitigated the damage if he'd rolled with it, handled the trademarks and licensing demands different and maybe, you know, actually put out a game. But he took his shot for all the marbles, and he lost. Now we get to watch him publicly destroyed.

fair enough, you're probably right.. but it brings up the thought.. did he know what would happen?

He boasted that he'd take EA to town over it over and over.. But it was evident to almost anyone who looked at it that the guy was just a troll and made his money off of people that didn't have the money to fight it, most of his cases were settled for less then the cost of legal aid.

He must have known somewhere that what he was doing wasn't really kosher.. he just thoroughly believed that the law was on his side?

When he first saw Mirror's Edge, was he ecstatic that he was going to win a major claim against EA? Or was he scared shitless that he was going to have take EA to task in order to keep his trademark?

In other words, I wonder how delusional he was about his chances