King might have backtracked on its trademark in the US, but it is still pushing through with it elsewhere. Now, however, another game developer has taken up arms to make sure that the Candy Crush Saga creator won’t be holding on to the trademark in the EU for long.
Game developer King began the year by laying claim to the word “Candy” as a trademark for its popular casual game. It didn’t stop there however. The trademark it sought for applied to non-game products as well, particularly merchandise bearing the word. And, of course, it tried to enforce that claim by sending legal notices to any and all games that use the word, whether they make sense or not. After receiving no small amount of backlash, King decided to withdraw the generic “Candy” trademark application and opt instead for a more specific “Candy Crusher” one.
In the EU, however, it’s business as usual for King but the UK branch of ZeptoLab isn’t going to be sitting quietly. Cut the Rope may not have been as wildly popular as, say, Angry Birds or Candy Crush, but it did make it to the headlines for some time. And guess what’s one of the main elements of Cut the Rope. Yes, candy. While ZeptoLab was granted the trademark “Feed with Candy” in the UK, King’s more overarching “Candy” trademark still poses a great threat. Now it is working to get King’s “Candy” EU trademark dissolved by submitting the claim in the UK.
The process might not be smooth-sailing, however, considering King apparently purchased the “Candy” EU trademark from a now bankrupt company. Still, if ZeptoLab is successful, they will not only manage to protect themselves from future lawsuits but would also have freed other game developers from worrying about using the very generic word in their games and products as well.
VIA: SlashGear, The Next Web
am I the only one who looks at the head of Kyng like “King Candy” from Wreck-it-Ralph?