Candy Crush Developer Wins Trademark For "Candy"

One of the most popular mobile games in the world is Candy Crush Saga from King.com Limited. The company field for a trademark about a year ago for the very generic word "Candy." That trademark has now been granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The trademark granted gives King's exclusive use of the word candy for games, software, educational services, and clothing. With the newly minted trademark in hand, King's is now trying to force any game developer with an app using candy in the title to remove the app or change it. Alternatively, the users can prove somehow that their use of the word candy doesn't infringe the trademark.

Game developers are not happy with the trademark seeing the term candy as being very generic. King.com is already going after at least one app titled "Candy Casino slots- Jewel Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land" for using candy in its title. The developer of that slots app was told that the use of candy in the title directly infringes the trademark,

Candy Crush Saga is one of the most popular mobile games on the planet. The developers claim that players of the game have played more than 150 billion times and that 500 million users have downloaded the game globally. Candy Crush Saga first appeared as a Facebook game before moving into the mobile realm. The popularity of the game led to King.com filing for an IPO last year.

SOURCE: HNGN