Candy Crush Saga Developer Trademarks The Word 'Candy'
UPDATE: King elaborates on trademark protection strategy.
Update
King has provided Modojo with a statement regarding the trademark registration, reproduced below.
"We have trademarked the word 'CANDY' in the EU, as our IP is constantly being infringed and we have to enforce our rights and to protect our players from confusion. We don't enforce against all uses of CANDY - some are legitimate and of course, we would not ask App developers who use the term legitimately to stop doing so.
The particular App in this instance was called 'Candy Casino Slots - Jewels Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land', but its icon in the App store just says 'Candy Slots', focusing heavily on our trademark. As well as infringing our and other developer's IP, use of keywords like this as an App name is also a clear breach of Apple's terms of use. We believe this App name was a calculated attempt to use other companies' IP to enhance its own games, through means such as search rankings."
Original Story
King, the studio responsible for the insanely popular puzzle game Candy Crush Saga, has successfully trademarked the word 'Candy' for use with a series of products ranging from shower caps to videogames.
The trademark, originally applied for in February last year, was eventually approved on January 15th. Gamezebo reports that a number of game developers appropriating the word for their own titles have been served name-change notifications by Apple.
Source - Candy Crush Saga
