Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a fantastic article about the case about Edge magazine vs. Timothy Langdell. The latter is a trademark troll trying to make a buck from the Edge trademark. Edge is a leading game magazine.
What is fantastic about this case is not only is Langdell trying to enforce the trademark “Edge†against every living soul using that word…he is doing it badly.
In this case Edge has sued Langdell because they are tired of being associated with him. Langdell tries during the case to prove that he has the right to the name and its Edge that is the bad guy. The judgement of Judge Proudman should be compulsory reading in schools. It is both a great legal argument, well written and hilarious.
The hilarious part is courtesy of Langdell though. In his attempt at trolling he makes up so many lies that he can’t remember them all himself. The best part of the judgment is where he tells the court that he created the EDGE logo in 1991 and claim he can prove it by submitting a disk with the picture on. When EDGE´s specialist examines the disk however something odd turns up. I would have given good money to have been present in the courtroom when the specialist points out that it is odd that a disk created in 1991 was created using Windows 95. You got to love those details. Langdell of course try to cover up his mistake by claiming that there is another disk and this is a backup disk.
The judgment is as I said a good read and an example of how a bad troll will ruin his own case.