back to article Candy Crush King went 'too far' when it candy crushed my app – dev

The developer behind the Candy Slots iOS game has said Candy Crush Saga-maker King has gone "too far" with its enforcement of its trademark on the word CANDY. Candy Slots icon and Candy Crush icon The icons of Candy Slots and Candy Crush Slots programmer Benny Hsu was surprised to find an email in his inbox yesterday from …

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  1. Munin

    Of course they're not going to enforce the name "too strictly"; they know it'd never stand up in court, so they'll only use it to beat up on small-time devs who don't have the resources to fight back.

    1. RealFred

      If they don't defend their trademark, they lose it. The developer should have done his research first. Unfortunately this is what the world has come to, like it or not. Blame the big companies for this state of affairs, they started it.

      1. mythicalduck

        Research the future?

        >The developer should have done his research first

        You're assuming that Candy Slots was released *after* Candy Crush got their trademark. I don't know whether they did or not, but it's certainly plausable that there were a dozen "candy" games before the TM was issued

    2. LarsG

      I hate the word CANDY in relation to 'sweets' which is plainly an Americanism that has invaded out language.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: LarsG @21:01

        Are you French?

        1. willi0000000

          Re: LarsG @21:01

          we have never invaded Outlanguage.

          we have always been at war with Eastasia.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        "I hate the word CANDY in relation to 'sweets' which is plainly an Americanism"

        Does our depravity know no bounds?!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          And for what it's worth, if you don't like 'candy' being used in relation to sweets, it's the French you have a problem with, not the US; the word originated from the French 'sucre candi', whence it became the Middle English 'sugre candi'.

          But, I mean, don't let reality get in the way of some America-bashing; God knows nobody else does.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Remember Candy washing machines and dish washers. Someone owns that trade name so watch out Candy Crush because they have been around for longer.

  2. Wang N Staines

    If they don't enforce it 'totally' then they'll lose it too.

    1. busycoder99

      Which isn't a bad thing

      coz they should never have got it in the first place.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Which isn't a bad thing

        Ah, you mean like Windows.

        1. Tom 13

          Re: Ah, you mean like Windows.

          Yep, and Office, and Apple. And probably quite a few others I'm forgetting about at the moment.

  3. Anonymous C0ward
    Paris Hilton

    Next they'll be suing any number of porn stars and strippers.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Go

      And makers of exploding washing machines

      http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/03/more-exploding-candy-washing-machines-248906/

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And makers of exploding washing machines

        You don't mess with the Italians.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: And makers of exploding washing machines @AC 21.10

          Funnily enough the CEO of King games is actually Italian

          Riccardo Zacconi

          "Is that a Stradivarius you have under your arm or are you just not pleased to see me"

  4. Barry Dingle

    Upside

    is that his game might actually get noticed by people now, whatever the new name is.

    1. davidp231

      Re: Upside

      Streisand Effect, anyone?

  5. Malcolm 1

    I'm rather more concerned about King's pursuit of the developers of "The Banner Saga" for daring to use the word "saga" in a viking-themed game:

    http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/22/king-are-trying-to-candy-crush-the-banner-saga/

    1. M Gale

      Sega should sue the fuck out of King.

      Panzer Dragoon Saga.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I think maybe I could write a viking themed game ...

      perhaps I'll call it "Egil's Saga", or "Orkneyinga Saga", or "Njal's Saga", or "Laxdala Saga", or somesuch.

  6. M Gale

    Small suggestion

    Rename the game to "Crush the King."

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Considering Candy Crush is a direct rip-off of Pop Cap's Bejewelled; which in turn is a more sophisticated copy of something I had on my PDA in 2004-ish they really shouldn't have a leg to stand on.

    The system rewards plagiarising, unethical douchbags at the expense of genuine innovation and it REALLY needs to be changed.

    1. NullReference Exception

      The thing you had on your PDA in 2004 was probably Same Game, which Wikipedia says has been around since 1985... so yeah.

      1. Crisp

        All of those games

        Are special cases of a more generalised theory of Connect-4.

  8. sisk

    A trademark on CANDY? Are they serious?

    And if so I'm going to apply for a trademark on 'the' and charge everyone a royalty fee of one genuine smile for each use of my trademark. (Hey, at least I'll be making the world a happier place instead of being a soulless money grubber.)

  9. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    As for another King product -

    On Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett we were recently discussing whether the witches depicted in the "Bubble Witch Saga" game are a rip-off of the specific portrayal of three reasonably good witches in Terry Pratchett's comedy fantasy novels [Wyrd Sisters] and so forth.

    I haven't played the game, but from the description, the witches don't really do anything. They just stand there looking in their cauldon. And all of them have cats, which Terry Pratchett's witches don't except for one - but the Bubble Witch that resembles Nanny Ogg has a cat that resembles Greebo. I take it that the cats don't do anything either.

    1. Goldmember

      Re: As for another King product -

      What the fuck are you smoking, dude?

    2. Muscleguy

      Re: As for another King product -

      I think a Mr W. Shakespeare sometime resident of Stratford on Avon has prior art on the 3 witches concept and Mr Pratchett's acolytes should know this.

      As for King 'something wicked this way comes' would seem to be appropriate.

      1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

        Re: As for another King product -

        Mr. Shakespeare's witches are acknowledged, but they are evil, basically uniform, mostly without cats as far as I remember, and originally played by male actors - which also is acknowledged. Their boy player analogues in the play in [Wyrd Sisters] are arrested by mistake, and Sir Terry's witches take their places on stage, with dramatic consequences.

        The idea that spooky women may be maiden, mother, or crone and come in threes has precedents, but I considered that His Pratchettude had innovated by teaming up one of each type, and in other ways. But I'm not a lawyer.

  10. LaeMing
    Meh

    While I wholely disagree with the trademarking of a common word like 'Candy', a game called "All Candy Casino Slots – Jewels Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land" is clearly named explicitly to draw hits from searches for several well-established games/genres. If it had just been called 'Candy Slots', being a candy-themed slot machine game, I might be a little more wholheartedly foaming at the mouth over this particular case.

  11. The Stolly

    Free advertising for all!

  12. Santaclaus

    Letter

    Dear developer

    Your use of the word candy infringes out trade mark.

    Stop using it or....Page 2 of this letter is available as an in app purchase for £69.99

  13. john devoy

    Surely you've seen enough of these to realise patents and copyrights aren't valid unless the US office says so; we all know foreign given patents are a ploy to undermine the American way of life.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Fortunately, patents and copyright don't have any bearing. This is entirely about trademarks, which are applied for and enforced on a regional basis.

  14. Richard Cranium

    It should not be permissible to claim ownership of a dictionary word or a common phrase. It's just a way for guys with deep pockets to get lawyered up in order to screw individuals and small businesses to remove trivial competitors and block innovation.

    I think my proposed "Easy i-Virgin apple leaf candy" product is doomed. (In case anyone misses the references :ownership of the word Easy is claimed by Easy Group easy.com, Virgin by Virgin.com and Apple and the letter "i" in front of anything by some guys who sell overpriced low spec computers dressed up as expensive fashion accessories, they also claim ownership of "leaf" - http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2012/12/10/apple_applies_to_trademark_the_leaf/#c_1656721). If our political classes weren't in the pocket of big business they'd legislate to prevent this theft of our language.

  15. Craigie

    They have damaged their own brand

    Just by copyrighting 'Candy' they have damaged their own brand as they are now viewed as idiots with more lawyers than sense.

    1. b166er

      Re: They have damaged their own brand

      Exactly, I just uninstalled Candy Crush

  16. Rob Thorley
    WTF?

    I want Candy

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMICD3aMZpw

    Will Malcolm McLaren's estate, and some ageing punks, now have to pay royalties?

    Candy Candy Candy

    Surely this is stupidity taken to the extreme...

  17. John Tserkezis

    "If anyone saw my icon or played my game, they would know that there was nothing in it that tried to copy Candy Crush."

    Including the fact that Candy Crush is run by a company that specialises in online gambling software?

    Nope, they're not related at all.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    While I'm no great fan of king.com, and no fan at all of overbroad trademark enforcement, this:

    "Candy is something we have all loved since we were children. I just wanted to create a game with a fun theme."

    Yeah, right, buddy. Tell me another one. I'm totally sure that the (literally) hundreds of games which have sprouted with 'candy' in the title are just doing so because of developers' sudden and simultaneous nostalgia for childhood confectionery, and nothing whatsoever to do with search rankings. No, of course not. Far be it.

    Try doing a search for 'saga' or 'crush' or 'craft' - any one of those terms will yield *at least* 500 games. This is not a cosmic coincidence.

  19. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    That large red Jelly Bean looks familiar...

    Same as the Android version screen Easter egg.

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