Anyone else spotted that King has now registered “Candy” as a trademark and will be taking action against its use in apps?
What are your thoughts on this one?
Since having an app ungraciously removed from Google Play for naively using a protected word - Olympic - I’ve steered well clear of anything that could attract a potential lawsuit or could be construed as a legal infringement.
Playing Devil’s Advocate it appears they’re attempting to squash blatant infringements on their property, which I can understand and respect:
"Addressing the example of an app developer which had already been told to change its name, King argued that the game in question had been deliberately designed to create confusion with Candy Crush.
“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.”
And they don’t appear as though they’ll push too heavily for legitimate uses of the name:
“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.”
Source: Eurogamer.net
It all depends on how aggressively they pursue this and the ludicrous manner in which companies can trademark a single word - bizarre. However having seen some of the blatant rip-offs (particularly on Android) I can understand this stance.
Besides it’s cropped up a number of times; late last year a German board game manufacturer caused a stink by going after people that sued the term “Memory” - which is absolutely ludicrous. However checking on this there’s an article that dates back to 2009 on this:
Re: Olympic, that’s one of the most fiercely protected trademarks in existence - up there with Coca-Cola and Star Wars, I remember enquiring about it’s usage many years ago in an editorial job, and was quoted ludicrous figures if I wanted to license its usage.
TLDR: Copyright/Trademarks are there to protect people - but at the same time are always open to be abused: always has been, always will.
The other issue is they are also going after “The Banner Saga” for the use of Saga. A word that King haven’t trademarked but are still trying to stop the devs of The Banner Saga trademarking.
There is no way The Banner Saga could be considered a copycat or anything like that and the word actually makes more sense in their title than any game by King.
@GG Agree 100% - King is overstepping the mark with that, showing their true intent and completely going back on what they originally claimed.
It’s just such a shame that the massive backlash on twitter and the gaming press probably won’t reach the general public and they’ll just keep on lining Kings pockets regardless. It’s all fine to be able to say people can vote with their pockets but when the general population doesn’t know or care they’ll just keep paying.
This is ridiculous. How far will this stuff go before someone puts an end to this madness?
You will probably be sued for using a word in a blog post next 
lol
I sent them a note to tell them how I feel about it:http://about.king.com/about/contact
http://about.king.com/about/contact
I’m also posting that to all my family and friends on Facebook and encouraging them to speak out about it. Me and the dozens I can influence may not make a difference, but if enough people start doing that, who knows.
Jay
We were actually just a few days ago considering eventually releasing all episodes of Forever Lost as one game and calling it Forever Lost: The Complete Saga or something like that. May not be sensible now.
@GG:
This is getting ridiculous! It just shows that this business is controlled by big global players. If I were in your position I would try to release it with this name! They may try to stop you from using it, but this will get your game and this whole situation some extra press…
The more attention this whole copyright stuff gets the better!
On the other hand GG - might be a way to get some free exposure 
Got a few contacts at Eurogamer/Videogamer etc… that would probably ran a story if King did come after you…
The only problem is that you don’t get any warning. For Google Play, the first you know about it is when your game has been suspended from the store and that’s the end of it. You don’t get cautioned or given notice, you just get wiped and all the hard work of building a following for that game is wiped out too. An email just arrives saying Google has been given notice of alleged copyright infringement, your game has been removed and you should take it up directly with the mark owner.
Plus, there’s a system whereby if you get too many games suspended you get permanently banned from Google Play, whether it’s your fault or not (and get banned from setting up new accounts in future as well).
A dangerous route to take.
As great as free exposure is, we really don’t want to get banned from the app stores
Playing Devil’s Advocate it appears they’re attempting to squash blatant infringements on their property, which I can understand and respect:
"Addressing the example of an app developer which had already been told to change its name, King argued that the game in question had been deliberately designed to create confusion with Candy Crush.
“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.”
And they don’t appear as though they’ll push too heavily for legitimate uses of the name:
“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.”
Source: Eurogamer.net
It all depends on how aggressively they pursue this and the ludicrous manner in which companies can trademark a single word - bizarre. However having seen some of the blatant rip-offs (particularly on Android) I can understand this stance.
Besides it’s cropped up a number of times; late last year a German board game manufacturer caused a stink by going after people that sued the term “Memory” - which is absolutely ludicrous. However checking on this there’s an article that dates back to 2009 on this:
Re: Olympic, that’s one of the most fiercely protected trademarks in existence - up there with Coca-Cola and Star Wars, I remember enquiring about it’s usage many years ago in an editorial job, and was quoted ludicrous figures if I wanted to license its usage.
TLDR: Copyright/Trademarks are there to protect people - but at the same time are always open to be abused: always has been, always will.
The other issue is they are also going after “The Banner Saga” for the use of Saga. A word that King haven’t trademarked but are still trying to stop the devs of The Banner Saga trademarking.
There is no way The Banner Saga could be considered a copycat or anything like that and the word actually makes more sense in their title than any game by King.
@GG Agree 100% - King is overstepping the mark with that, showing their true intent and completely going back on what they originally claimed.
It’s just such a shame that the massive backlash on twitter and the gaming press probably won’t reach the general public and they’ll just keep on lining Kings pockets regardless. It’s all fine to be able to say people can vote with their pockets but when the general population doesn’t know or care they’ll just keep paying.
This is ridiculous. How far will this stuff go before someone puts an end to this madness?
You will probably be sued for using a word in a blog post next lol
I sent them a note to tell them how I feel about it:http://about.king.com/about/contact
http://about.king.com/about/contact
I’m also posting that to all my family and friends on Facebook and encouraging them to speak out about it. Me and the dozens I can influence may not make a difference, but if enough people start doing that, who knows.
Jay
We were actually just a few days ago considering eventually releasing all episodes of Forever Lost as one game and calling it Forever Lost: The Complete Saga or something like that. May not be sensible now.
@GG:
This is getting ridiculous! It just shows that this business is controlled by big global players. If I were in your position I would try to release it with this name! They may try to stop you from using it, but this will get your game and this whole situation some extra press…
The more attention this whole copyright stuff gets the better!