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Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

gamezebo.com

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Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#51

Post by vacri »

Zikes wrote: post #12
judk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which of course they stole from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instamatic

Funny enough, iPhone was trademarked in Brazil way back in 2000. Last year a judge basically yanked that trademark away and gave it to Apple because Apple is "world renowned" and thus deserved it more. [1] I guess trademark ownership is rather nebulous after all. http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/25/4770180/apple-wins-iphone-...

'ios' already existed as an operating system waaay before the iphone was a glint in Jobs' eye. Cisco network equipment runs ios.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#52

Post by jug6ernaut »

bertil wrote: post #47
will_brown wrote: post #45

Lawyer here. I once received a C&D letter for my business, vblood.com, a vampire themed energy drink from a competitor claiming they owned the TM rights to "blood" for beverages. That was a little different they filed the TM in the wrong category and I claimed defense of "descriptive use" how else would a blood themed beverage be described? However, the Candy Crush Saga creators are even further behind the 8-ball on…

Thank you for that — it's a shame someone belonging to the same professional group as you advised King to do something stupid and provocative. I really wish sanctions from Bar associations were stronger when it comes to empowering large clients to bully others in spite of common sense.

I don't know that I would agree that this should be an issue against those practicing law. While I think we can all agree that its unethical, it is within the law as it is now. We could go on all day blaming the lawyers, but they are not the source of the problem. Only one of many results of a system that has its flaws.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#53

Post by rhizome »

jmduke wrote: post #34
skymt wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very similar, though there are some significant gameplay differences. But from a visual perspective, compare Bejeweled[0] and Candy Crush[1], then look at Action Candy Swap HD Pro[2]. [0]: http://appshopper.com/games/bejeweled [1]: http://appshopper.com/games/candy-crush-saga-%C2%AE [2]: http://appshopper.com/games/action-candy-swap-hd-pro

That third link is incredible; they've made a cottage industry out of match-3 clones. Not only Action Candy Swap , but Action Candy Shift , Action Jewel Matching , and Amazing Fruit Shift -- all of which seem to be clones of the same game with different sprites and verbiage.

I imagine the business model is the repackage the same thing under as many search term combinations as they can think that people would try to find a game like this. In food terms, like a restaurant advertising the same thing as, "BBQ," "Smoked Meat," "Southern Grill Food," "St. Louis Pork," "Tailgate Plate," etc. It's just pushing SEO into the actual name of the game.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#54

Post by Crito »

vacri wrote: post #49
mikeryan wrote: post #4

Think of Apple, for example. Nobody is going to expect the electronics giant to lay claim over the fruit, but if someone were to try to market an electronic device under that name, you’d better believe their lawyers would swoop in. Ironically the reverse happened. Apple always had an uneasy trademark situation with Apple Corps (A holding company owned by the Beatles which owns Apple Records). Apple kept "entering the…

Apple tried to prevent a supermarket chain here in Australia from using a logo which stylised their "W" as an apple, one that looked nothing like Apple's apple.

For anybody who doesn't remember, it was Woolworths: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woolworths_logo_2012.svg

Not to be confused with Woolworth (no 's'), the old American retail store. Somewhat ironically, Woolworths was named after Woolworth, though the companies are not related:

> "The name on the draft prospectus drawn up by Cecil Scott Waine was "Wallworths Bazaar" – a play on the F.W. Woolworth name (the owner of the Woolworth's chain in the United States and United Kingdom). However, according to Ernest Robert Williams, Percy Christmas dared him to register the name Woolworths instead, which he succeeded in doing after finding out the name was available for use in New South Wales. Accordingly, Woolworths Ltd in Australia has no connection with the F.W. Woolworth Company in the United States, nor the Woolworths Group of UK."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Limited

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#55

Post by belorn »

jug6ernaut wrote: post #52
bertil wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for that — it's a shame someone belonging to the same professional group as you advised King to do something stupid and provocative. I really wish sanctions from Bar associations were stronger when it comes to empowering large clients to bully others in spite of common sense.

I don't know that I would agree that this should be an issue against those practicing law. While I think we can all agree that its unethical, it is within the law as it is now. We could go on all day blaming the lawyers, but they are not the source of the problem. Only one of many results of a system that has its flaws.

Members of bar associations are often required to follow a set of ethics.

Doing unethical (but legal) is already something that bar associations will sanction against. The only question is what each bar association consider unethical.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#56

Post by agateau »

While the trademark feels abusive, gamezebo really did not pick the best example: how can one name his game "All Candy Casino Slots – Jewel Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land" and then pretend he did not try to take advantage of the name of famous games?

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#57

Post by joshvm »

skymt wrote: post #21

I'm a little sympathetic to King here because of the degree to which other developers have ripped off Candy Crush. A couple minutes searching the app store for "candy" turned up five examples ranging from "strongly based on" to "deliberately sowing confusion." One describes itself as a "popular candy 'match 3' game," another even uses the distinctive Candy Crush UI font. But of course they throw away any sympathy by…

Why are you sympathetic?

Candy Crush/Farm Heroes = Bejewelled, Papa Pear = Peggle, Bubble Witch = Puzzle Bobble to name a few. No doubt there will be loads of dupes, in the same way that people tried to emulate XXXX-Ville's success.

As people mention the way King got popular is the level of polish in their games and the use of new/innovative takes on very popular titles.

The video games industry thrives on plagiarism. Almost laughable given how much they harp on about piracy.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#58

Post by blisterpeanuts »

There are 252 apps in the Android Market with "Candy" in the name (including the Candy Crush set of games, and a few dupes like free/ad and paid).

Likely there are hundreds of comparable apps in Apple's app store but I can't quite fathom how to search from a desktop browser (???).

Sounds like they'll need to sue a lot of people to enforce that trademark. What's next--"blaster"? "nuke"? "Kill"? "Monster"? Pretty soon, if this ridiculous effort succeeds, all the common dictionary words will get locked up in trademarks, just as domain names did 10-15 years earlier.

But somehow I doubt it, and probably it will give them more bad press and headaches than it's worth. I already know that I won't be buying their apps for my family's use.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#59

Post by 10feet »

mikeryan wrote: post #4

Think of Apple, for example. Nobody is going to expect the electronics giant to lay claim over the fruit, but if someone were to try to market an electronic device under that name, you’d better believe their lawyers would swoop in. Ironically the reverse happened. Apple always had an uneasy trademark situation with Apple Corps (A holding company owned by the Beatles which owns Apple Records). Apple kept "entering the…

And there have been computer makers back in the day, such as Apricot computers.

Re: Candy Crush Saga creators have trademarked the word “candy”

#60

Post by kartikkumar »

Do these trademarks go international? Isn't King a UK-based company? If they filed for the trademark in the US, do they have separate filings for each country that they want to protect "candy"?

What if you are an app developer outside the jurisdiction of the trademark? Can you just ignore?

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