At 8/30/09 05:06 PM, doctormario wrote:
I've been following this since it unfolded in May (I even bought edge to show my support for the week it was back up) and there's more drama in it than any TV show or movie... it's worth a read if you have the time.
Thank you for that. It was a good read. This situation is not unlike the tawdry world of royalty free photos. A few weeks ago, some old customers of ours received a very snippy 'cease and desist' note from the advocates of Getty images, claiming that certain pictures on their site were rights managed, and money was owed. Here's the rub. They weren't rights managed before Getty bought them. We used them from a royalty free disk (officially purchased and all). I reckon their case is all the way flimsy. Still, we'll put new pics in for our valued customers (from iStock) and tell Getty, "Fuck you very much". But the audacity of this giant, feckless corporate amoeba, trying to squeeze undeserved, retroactive cash out of honest people is sickening. Like the fucking Getty's need more cash. Please.
It's not quite on the same scale as the tim langdell v mobigame fiasco.
For those too lazy to read the thread (your loss) here's a summary:
Mobigame makes an award winning iphone game, "edge"
Tim Langdell, of his own company "edge games" owns the trademark on the word "edge", and threatens to sue mobigame if they don't change it and if they do change it they owe him money anyway. Tim behaves less than professionally, and does such stuff as trademarking the name "edgy", which mobigame suggested as an other name for their game.
Langdell is on the board of directors of the IGDA. He claims he spawned [list of titles and EDGE magazine]. Proven false, even he says that Future Publishing is not his partner in his open letter (in a footnote, as contrary to saying that future publishing is his partner in the threat to mobigame)
The coming months provide a lot of drama on the subject, with hundreds of independent parties digging up dirt on Tim Langdell such as they can't find any game he made after 1990, and they can't find for sale any ports of the games he made in the early 80s. They found a restraining order against him from some actress. Everyone he ever talked to is coming out of the dark and calling him a con man. Court cases are being found, in the public record, where the courts reprimand him for his actions. His office is a rent-a-mailbox.
Tim writes an 'open letter' twisting his story around the facts dug up, and allegedly fabricating emails to prove his innocence.
The IGDA is getting ready to vote on his removal. The board did nothing, until they were required to due to a membership petition. Tim is responding to claims by calling everyone a liar, and threatening libel and defamation suits against people who just so much as quote his own email correspondence.
Mobigame is not making any money right now due to EDGE being pulled from the app store until the dispute is over. Langdell is purposely delaying in an attempt to get Mobigame to buckle.
There's a LOT more to the story, and you should really read his responses on the IGDA forum (starting on page 65 or so). My favorite, tim claims he never demanded money from anyone. Someone posts a link to a public record court case where tim's demanding money. Tim's response, word for word, is "1. not true"
