King Abandons the Battle to Trademark “Candy” in U.S.
Candy Crush Saga maker King has withdrawn its attempt to trademark the word “Candy” in the U.S. This decision follows after acquiring the rights to a “Candy Crusher” trademark filed by Harrier Software last year. “This does not affect our E.U. trademark for Candy and we continue to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP,” the company said in an emailed statement.
A representative of King.com told in a statement to GameSpot, “King has withdrawn its trademark application for Candy in the U.S., which we applied for in February 2013 before we acquired the early rights to Candy Crusher.” He also added in that statement, “Each market that King operates in is different with regard to IP. We feel that having the rights to Candy Crusher is the best option for protecting Candy Crush in the U.S. market. This does not affect our E.U. trademark for Candy and we continue to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP.”
In addition to the effort to trademark the word “Candy”, King had opposed the attempt by independent studio Stoic to trademark “The Banner Saga.” They said that their own games like Candy Crush Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, Farm Heroes Saga and Bubble Witch Saga had built a brand around the word “Saga,” even though those casual games are in a totally different genre from The Banner Saga, a fantasy tactical role-playing game. King had argued at that time that not opposing opposing The Banner Saga trademark would have given other “Saga” namers an easy out in future IP battles.
This moves by King over the “Candy” and “Saga” IP has triggered an outpouring of serious protests, jokey tweets and even cloning of whole games by independent developers. Those developers submitted some 457 candy-themed games to Candy Jam, an online contest made to protest King’s moves.
Trademark Registration in Japan
Patent Attorney：Hiroshi Oogai
Address：304 BUREX Hirakawacho 1-5-15 Hirakawa-cho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Phone：＋81-3-4570-0792
Mail：contact @ trademark-registration-japan.com
