In recent days an email went out to the IGDA membership discussing the seat of Tim Langdell on the association’s board of directors. The email cites Mr. Langdell’s trademark of the word “edge” and his, and his company Edge Games, leveraging “this trademark against any media that contains this word—threatening legal action should their target not enter into a licensing arrangement with the studio.” It goes on to inform the recipient that “under the IGDA by-laws, we are able to call for a special meeting of the membership to vote on the removal of Tim Langdell from the board of directors” and prompts them to follow a link to an online petition.
For those of you unaware of who or what the IGDA is, the International Game Developers Association is an independent non-profit advocacy organisation serving the people in the video game industry. The association’s mission is “to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.” In short the IGDA is to video games as AIGA is to graphic design.
Further, for those unaware of the background behind the trademark war being fought (on all fronts) by Tim Langdell and Edge Games suffice it to say they are behind some of the most unfortunate and inane trademark lawsuits in the entertainment industry in recent memory. In one of the more high profile confrontations, Mr. Langdell is behind the recent removal of the wildly popular game “EDGE” (Mobigame) from the iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. Trademark infringement lawsuits have also been brought against Sony Pictures Entertainment, Electronic Arts Games, and NAMCO, among many others.
What’s important, and surprising, about this email, indeed what is important about the message presented is that it is false. In fact, the IGDA has no policy governing the calling of special membership meetings by regular members—though the co-chairs may call these meetings. Shortly after the original message was sent an official email from the IGDA Executive Director, Joshua Caulfield, was sent to the membership stating that the original message “was [from a] spoofed [IGDA email address] and the communication was not an official IGDA communication” and that the IGDA was “not responsible” for the content of the message. A slightly disheartening—and worrying from a privacy standpoint—notion being that there’s such an air of confusion and consternation surrounding Tim Langdell’s position on the advocacy association’s board, but there is good news.
Yesterday, 7 August 2009, yet another message was sent out from the IGDA, this time by Co-Chair Tobi Saulnier. This most recent email announced a move by the board of directors and the co-chairs to call a special membership meeting. It further states that a committee, or “taskforce,” has been empanelled to develop governing policies for such a meeting so as to better deal with the issue brought up by the spoofed email—that of Tim Langdell’s position on the IGDA Board of Directors, and his alleged misuse thereof.
This is an amazing example of reactive politics, and in this instance such a reaction is actually a good thing. Many in the industry, both in production rolls and consumer rolls, are quite off put by Mr. Langdell’s position on the board and have been concerned with the lack of action or position by the IGDA towards the lawsuits he and his company have introduced. While brought about by dubious, perhaps less-than-legal methods, the reaction of the board and co-chairs to this call for action is certainly a light in the dark.
You can read more about Edge Games, Tim Langell, and even the game “EDGE” here: KOTAKU.com