Protestors Rally Against 'Candy Crush Saga' Developer with Deluge of Candy-Themed Games

[MacRumors]

King, the developer behind mega-hit Candy Crush Saga, was recently awarded a UK trademark on the term "candy" for use in video games and is awaiting approval on a similar trademark in the United States. With Apple in some cases assisting King in targeting apps with "candy" in their names, developers unhappy with King's IP strategy have responded with a protest that is seeking to flood the iOS App Store with candy-themed games, according to reports from Pocket-lint and Slate.

Organized by the Candy Jam website, the group exhorts game developers to "fight trademark trolling" by making a candy-themed game between now and February 3. The game-making jam is meant to protest the trademark system and King's aggressive business tactics, and developers have already submitted more than 100 apps with different combinations of the words "candy," "saga," "scroll," "apple" and more.

King CEO and co-founder Riccardo Zacconi says the company is "not trying to control the world's use of the word candy," clarifying that King will only use the trademark "to prevent others from creating games that unfairly capitalise on our success." Zacconi also defends his company against allegations that it released a game, Pac-Avoid, that cloned an existing game from developer Stolen Goose. Zacconi explains the company "should never have published Pac-Avoid" and has apologetically pulled it from its website.

Article Link: Protestors Rally Against 'Candy Crush Saga' Developer with Deluge of Candy-Themed Games

 

[Bensalama21]

The trademark system is simply delusional.

 

[underkuerbis]

Sounds like some kind of Willy Wonka

 

[WaxedJacket]

I'll participate in downloading the top 10 candy games to see if we can get them all listed

http://appshopper.com/bestsellers/paid

 

[AngerDanger]

I guess I'll stick with the generic Sweet Solidified Glucose Crush Saga instead.

 

[Plutonius]

Sour Grapes ?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

By protesting it, don't you just give it undo attention and inadvertently cause more downloads? All press is good press?

 

[CJM]

Well they tried to sue the makers of The Banner Saga, for use of the word 'saga', so you know they're being completely honest.

 

[whooleytoo]

Reminds me of the fight for ownership of "Edge".

Starting a new venture must be such a minefield now, between the threat of copyright and patent infringement.

 

[charlituna]

The trouble with his comments is that there are games with candy in the title that predate him. His trademark would basically make it illegal for those games to have a digital version because he controls Candy used with video games. So say 'candyland' now legally can't go digital without changing their name or some how successfully arguing that candy and candyland are not at all the same

I get his intent to keep folks from cloning his game or using similar names to confuse folks but how it was done was not correct or cool and I can't believe the UK allowed it. I hope the US doesn't or if they do someone immediately sues.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Of all games out there, Candy Crush is the one I hate the most. I even hate the people who play it. And I REALLY hate the people who play it on my train home from work with their sound at 100%.

 

[iHEARTcartoons]

Just call your new app "Wachamacallit" and your set.

 

[roboclint]

'King CEO and co-founder Riccardo Zacconi says the company is "not trying to control the world's use of the word candy," clarifying that King will only use the trademark "to prevent others from creating games that unfairly capitalise on our success."'

Like Bejeweled?

 

[whooleytoo]

By protesting it, don't you just give it undo attention and inadvertently cause more downloads? All press is good press?

It's a pretty well known game as it stands; I don't think they really need much more publicity. I do think companies reach a point/size where "any publicity is good publicity" is no longer strictly true, and they need to keep a positive public facade.

 

[the-oz-man]

People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along?

Rodney King

 

[Xerotech]

Cloning and copying is inevitable. Everything has an era and King is trying to delay their destruction. Candy Crush's hype will eventually die down.
If Apple is fine with all the other clones, such as Temple Run's many variations, they shouldn't be protecting King. All CC is, is Bejeweled with candy instead of gems.

 

[citi]

Just call your new app "Wachamacallit" and your set.

That was a great candy bar!

 

[Liquorpuki]

This is like Zynga trademarking "Ville"

These can trademark all they want, they're still not gonna be able to duplicate their initial success. Nobody cares about a brand when it comes to these freemium games

 

[Todd B.]

Protesters? More like whiny, self-righteous kids who have way too much time on their hands or terrible app makers trying to get fifteen minutes of fame by duping people into thinking their app is the real one.

 

[notjustjay]

New games in the App Store in 3, 2, 1...

Candy Birds
Cut the Candy
Candy Ninja

 

[winston1236]

Well the US gov worships corporations so they should have no trouble getting that trademarked in the US.

 

[cmChimera]

The trademark system is simply delusional.

I'm sure you know a ton about it.

 

[mantan]

Cloning and copying is inevitable. Everything has an era and King is trying to delay their destruction. Candy Crush's hype will eventually die down.
If Apple is fine with all the other clones, such as Temple Run's many variations, they shouldn't be protecting King. All CC is, is Bejeweled with candy instead of gems.

So if Samsung stated your first paragraph and substituted 'Apple and Cook' for 'Candy Crush and King' would you feel the same way?.....just sayin'

Not saying you're right or wrong...but I see a lot hypocrisy on this board....

 

[iZac]

I wasn't even aware this game or company existed until I read this news report.

However, if they are trolling the marketplace like Zynga does with the '...with friends' and as Liquorpuki pointed out the '...ville' trademarks - then more power to the candy jammers.

 

[Tiger8]

Bewaunce and Zay-J copyrighted their kid's name 'Blu-Ivy' or something like that, oh boy, what's next?