US Court Denies Injunction Request In Langdell Vs EA Trademark Case

If you’ve been following the trademark infringement case involving EA and the notorious Tim Langdell, you will know that Langdell’s most recent action was to seek an injunction preventing EA from using the “Mirror’s Edge” mark for the duration of said case.
This injunction request has been denied by a court in California, which used damning terms to refuse the motion. In summary, the court found that Langdell failed to establish that the absence of an injunction would result in irreparable harm or that said injunction was in the public interest.
Far more scathing, however, is the revelation that Langdell may have defrauded the United States Patent And Trademark Office. Citing instances of doctored videogame boxes (including “Garfield: A Winter’s Tail” and “Snoopy: The Cool Computer Game”) being submitted by Langdell to the USPTO in support of his trademark claim. In reference to this, the court documents state: “the record contains numerous items of evidence that plaintiff wilfully committed fraud against the USPTO in obtaining and/or maintaining registrations for many of the asserted “EDGE” marks, possibly warranting criminal penalties if the misrepresentations prove true.”
This is not, in itself, a finding of fraud against Langdell, merely a strongly worded dismissal of his attempted injunction based on the evidence provided by both parties. The main trademark trial date is currently scheduled for 24 October 2011.