14 DAY TRIAL // King, the developer that created the hit title Candy Crush Saga, says that it is no longer seeking to trademark the term “candy” in the United States, although it will continue to protect its intellectual property aggressively against any copycats.
The studio is not explaining exactly why it made the decisions and, at the moment, the United States Patent and Trademark Office database is still listing the term as being protected when it refers to goods, services, computer software, lotteries, juke boxes and more.
A representative of the company tells GamesIndustry.biz that, “King has withdrawn its trademark application for Candy in the US, which we applied for in February 2013 before we acquired the early rights to Candy Crusher. Each market that King operates in is different with regard to IP.”
He adds, “We feel that having the rights to Candy Crusher is the best option for protecting Candy Crush in the US market. This does not affect our EU trademark for Candy and we continue to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP.”
All Candy Casino Slots – Jewel Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land was the title that was first accused of trying to use its name and its image in the App Store in order to promote itself unfairly.
Since then, King has also asserted that it will try to preclude other teams from using the “Saga” term, which has brought it into open conflict with Stoic Games, the indie team that has launched The Banner Saga earlier in the year.
The Viking-themed fantasy title with tactical and role-playing elements does not have any chance of being confused by any potential player with the much more casual Candy Crush Saga, but the two companies will probably go to court to settle the legal issue.
The team at Stoic has made it clear that it has no plans to abandon development of its title and that it will try to show that King does not have the right to trademark the term “Saga.”
The International Game Developers Association has also accused the creator of Candy Crush Saga of overreaching with its trademark use, in a move that can have negative consequences for the entire industry.
King is at the moment still profiting handsomely from the launch of its game and it has a number of other casual titles in development, which are designed to help it avoid the fate of Zynga.