Electronic Arts has recently come under fire from Edge Games over its release of Mirror’s Edge. Edge Games contends that Mirror’s Edge constitutes trademark infringement on EA’s part and has filed a lawsuit in response.
The lawsuit was filed in Northern California by the Lanier Law Firm, representing Edge Games. The firm has requested an injunction against the game to prevent further infringement. The suit also includes damage claims, which will skew much higher if EA is found guilty of willful infringement.
Edge Games, having been in operation since the early 1980s, says they hold the “Edge” trademark globally. According to the case, Edge says they sent a cease-and-desist letter to EA in July of 2007 after learning of the Mirror’s Edge title. Instead of responding to the letter EA instead filed a trademark application, which was denied by the US Patent & Trademark Office. The Patent Office stated that EA’s publishing of Mirror’s Edge would cause confusion with several existing Edge Games trademarks.
Edge says that they repeatedly contacted EA to resolve the situation, with EA not responding until October. Edge alleges that EA then left negotiations and launched Mirror’s Edge without their tacit approval. EA is currently working on Mirror’s Edge 2.
This is not the first time that Edge Games and Edge Games’ founder Tim Langdell have been in a legal battle over the “Edge” moniker. Langdell sued mobile platform developer Mobigame over the iOS puzzle title Edge. After a long legal battle and several removal attempts, Edge returned to the Apple App Store in early May of this year.
