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Trademark Crush Saga


Uncle Dokuro
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So early this week it came to light that pay-2-play developer King.com trademarked the common word "Candy". This was in their view to protect pay-2-play game Candy Crush Saga. To me this tactic smacks of the trademark troll Tim Langdell and the whole "edge" trademark issues. Now I'm not against a company trademarking game titles, but I draw the line at trademarking a common word and then telling people you can use said word in your games title.

Now King.com has also trademarked the common word "crush" and is also now trying to stop Stoic Games from enforcing its own rights with The Banner Saga. King.com is opposing Stoic from trademarking "The Banner Saga", because it uses the word "saga". As a retort to King.com's claims Stoic Games has confirmed that they will be making The Banner Saga 2.

So far King.com has only gone after smaller companies it can pick on with out fear legal action, but have not gone after bigger companies like Square-Enix (SaGa franchise) and Hasbro (makers of iOS/Android match three puzzle game Candyland Match Three). Which makes this smack even more of trolling and not protection of an IP like they claim.

So what is the opinion of the rest of the MFG usebase? Do we need trademark reform to protect the use of common words from trademark trolls? Should we just leave it alone and let the biggest checkbook win? Sound off bellow.

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So stupid. As Bob say, they are being cunts.

I think we should also level at the laws that let them do this. I was talking to Hendo about this a few days ago on the topic of MS copyrighting "Achievement Unlocked" and saying how it'd be an absolute waste as you'd only have to change it a little bit to avoid treading on MS's solicitors toes. This just takes the piss though, they should only be allowed to copyright phrases or words within phrases. If someone was to make a game called Candyland Saga then that's an obvious infringement. Just going after people that use one of those words seems a bit off.

It sort of reminds me of Paris Hilton trademarking "That's Hot!" I don't even understand how the courts can take things like this seriously.

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Gameinformer did an interview with indie developer Matthew Cox who claimed that King.com stole and cloned his 2009 game Scamperghost after negotiations between the two broke off. Today Gameinformer reported King.com response and that they have taken down the cloned game from it's web arcade.

King.com has dug there own grave by acting like pricks to smaller indie studios. Hopefully more people stand up to Mr.Jörnow. Unfortunately they most likely will get away with it and continue to rake in money from there web arcade, apps and Facebook games till a larger company with more resources can put Mr. Jörnow and his company in it's place.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ransom Apps the make of CandySwipe a game that released two years before King.com's Candy Crush Saga in legal action and trademark dispute.

King.com has made headlines recently not because of the runaway success of puzzler Candy Crush Saga, but rather its aggressive trademarking of the word “candy”. The drama continues with the developer of CandySwipe, a suspiciously similar puzzle game released via Facebook two years earlier, calling out King.com in a very personal, emotional open letter.

“Two years after I released CandySwipe, you released Candy Crush Saga on mobile; the app icon, candy pieces, and even the rewarding, "Sweet!" are nearly identical,” says Albert Ransom, founder of Runsome Apps and creator of CandySwipe. “So much so, that I have hundreds of instances of actual confusion from users who think CandySwipe is Candy Crush Saga, or that CandySwipe is a Candy Crush Saga knockoff.

Ransom also provides a link to a trademark dispute with King.com, which the company initiated with intent to prevent customer confusion. His letter goes on to describe behind-the-scenes legal battles that have been going on for some time and how CandySwipe began as a labor of love in remembrance of his mother. Read the open letter in full here.

We reached out to King.com for comment on Ransom’s impassioned letter. While the company has nothing to offer at this time, a representative pointed us towards this open letter regarding its approach to intellectual property. The context of the original open letter revolves around King.com’s opposition to publisher Stoic attempting to trademark “Banner Saga” and the company's commission and publication of a clone of another developer's game.

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  • 2 weeks later...

King.com has abandoned it's claim on the word "candy" in the United States.

After drawing in bad press for its enforcement of a trademark on the word “candy” and allegations that Candy Crush Saga was stolen, King.com Limited has abandoned its claim on the word. The company filed paperwork for an express abandonment of the trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 24.

It does not appear, however, that the European trademark filing has been abandoned. King is also in the process of opposing Stoic's attempt to trademark the name of its recent game, The Banner Saga. King’s attempt to trademark the word “saga” was suspended, but that does not prevent the company from opposing other uses.

We’ve reached out to King for a comment on the matter, and we’ll update should the company respond. For more, read up on the International Game Developers Association’s response to the matter.

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