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What? You agree that nobody else can use the word 'candy' because they've made a successful game? That makes no sense. This means if you decided to launch a game called Zombie Candy or something they could go after you.

All I am saying is in my circle of family and friends any mention of the word candy leads to questions like "which level are you on in candy crush", "Oh that was such a difficult level", "wtf you haven't played candy crush yet??!!", etc. etc.
 
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.


I never played candy crush, nor i will, but isn't it basically a ripoff of pre-existing games?
how the heck are they spearheading efforts "to prevent others from creating games that unfairly capitalise on our success."
 
All I am saying is in my circle of family and friends any mention of the word candy leads to questions like "which level are you on in candy crush", "Oh that was such a difficult level", "wtf you haven't played candy crush yet??!!", etc. etc.

I'm not disagreeing that the game is incredibly popular, just with the idea that that means that other people can't use the name 'candy' in their titles. Trademarks should protect creators against blatant copying, but if a random game is added to the store that is NOTHING like Candy Crush Saga but has the name 'candy' in it, it has every right to be there.
 
Well this is no different to the stupidity of trademarks and patents that Apple and others have done, no different at all. Just pay someone somewhere enough money and apparently, you CAN literally do anything in this world.

I'm hoping film titles start to trademark words next... give it time..

There's nothing unusual or dramatic or stupid about words being trademarked. 'The' has been trademarked dozens of times in the UK. We can all still happily use it as a word and in titles.
 
It's a bit silly to copyright a single word like that, especially when that word can often be used in games.

Naming your company is one thing but the title of a game is another. There are millions of games, there aren't that many companies. You can't name your company Apple but if someone makes a game about candy, I think copyrighting that word is going a bit too far, as a game is quite disposable while companies stick around for decades.

What if Angry Birds copyrighted "Birds" or "Angry"? Or if Cut the Rope copyrighted "Rope"? Soon we'll run out of things to make games about, as everything will be copyrighted!

PS: Candy Crush is heavily based on / is basically the same thing as Bejeweled, so how original is that?
 
It's a bit silly to copyright a single word like that

Trademark, not copyright. Titles cannot be copyrighted. You can find various books/movies/games with the same title, but which are unrelated, and it's all fine. If you want to protect a title in some way it needs to be trademarked. It wouldn't be an issue if they were trademarking "Candy Crush Saga", but attempting to trademark "candy" and "saga" is ludicrous and should never have been allowed in the first place.

--Eric
 
Between copyrighting of common stuff and some of the patent crap, it is getting shameful how companies operate. I would imagine is someone were to invent the "wheel" today, nobody else would be able to use it. And where would that get us?


Apple is a particular bad-guy in this arena. If they have an idea, they fight tooth and nail against competition. Good thing they were not the FIRST to invent the cell phone. In their world, nobody else would have been able to make them.
 
How the hell can you trademark the use of a single COMMON word like "candy" to be used exclusively for your company? Wouldn't a single prior use of the word candy in ANY program in the history of computers invalidate such a thing even without the "common" use of the word itself? It was like the SyFy Channel trying to trademark the term "SciFi" when it's been common use for many decades. It just shouldn't be allowed period. What if someone wanted a Christmas theme game called "Candy Cane Factory". TOO BAD. Kings Games OWNS ****ALL**** usage of the word "Candy" in every game for all eternity. I'm sorry, but that's a crock and it should be protested everywhere. That sounds like some official took a BRIBE to violate COMMON SENSE.

I think I'd like to trademark the word "money" for usage in ANY program on any computer or game system forever! I'll apply for that now....
 
The first time I saw their TV commercial, I thought it was a joke. I don't remember when it was, but I recall it was during a broadcast that was known for high-priced commercials (like the Super Bowl but not), and was surprised that this no-name game (to me) paid to advertise their product!

It's a dumb commercial, and reeks of the likes of Perfect Polly (the parakeet for the mentally insane).

What people spend money on....
 
'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?

Cannot be emphasised enough. Basically their entire company is based around something they stole from Popcap.

I can't believe Popcap, especially now they've been acquired by EA and have their resources behind them, have not taken these Bozos to court.
 
...but isn't it basically a ripoff of pre-existing games?

Nope. Unlike pre-existing games, it has had millions of dollars of analytic and statistical research put into additives making it as addictive as cigarettes to some people, driving mindless hoards into putting more and more money into something that is less and less fun. Similar to cigarettes and the lottery, another tax on stupid behavior. Whether you think that's good or bad probably depends on your system of ethics.
 
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