Candy Crush Saga Developer Trademarks 'Candy'

Candy Crush Saga developer, King, has trademarked the word ‘Candy’ when it comes to games and clothing and is stating that any game in Apple’s iOS store that uses the word is infringing on its IP rights.

However, in order to avoid confusion, King has issued a statement to GamesIndustry International,

“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’, focussing 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 a calculated attempt to use other companies’ IP to enhance its own games, through means such as search rankings.”

What are your thoughts about the ‘Candy’ trademark?