Candy Crush Developer Trademarks the word "Candy"

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21 Jan 2014, 8:34 pm

http://www.screwattack.com/news/candy-c ... word-candy

It's a lot more despicable than it sounds. I've never played mobile games and now I don't want to.

Candy Crush fans will be disappointed to hear this. Here's the full article for the impatient.

Quote:

King, the developer of the Candy Crush Saga has taken a page from the Donald Trump playbook with their recent trademark. Last February they filed a trademark on the word "candy" in video games and clothing. How something so arbitrary could be approved U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is beyond me, but it has, so all you honest game devs out there with the word candy in your game better prepare yourself.

Has the world gone INSANE?!?! You can't put a copyright on a single word like that! How long has the word "Candy" been a word? :ncool:

Wait, there's more!

Quote:

King has already begun taking down mobile games like Ben Hsu's All Candy Casino Slots. A free app that looks nothing like Candy Crush Saga, but hey, it's got candy in the title so f**k' em. And don't even get me started on the clothing aspect of the trademark that could potentially affect well established brands like Skullcandy, Candy Clothing, Sugar Candy, etc. etc.

This is happening isn't it? The world is going to hell. Can someone restore the sanity, please?

Oh, HERE it comes!

Quote:

Sure... who King chooses to file suit with is at their discretion, but going this route shows how petty King really is. They aren't doing this to protect themselves, they're doing this to get as much money as possible before they become irrelevant.

..............I'm...so...speechless. I'm so mad, that I can't think.

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Misery
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21 Jan 2014, 8:54 pm

Aspiegaming wrote:

http://www.screwattack.com/news/candy-crush-saga-developer-now-has-trademark-word-candy

It's a lot more despicable than it sounds. I've never played mobile games and now I don't want to.

Candy Crush fans will be disappointed to hear this. Here's the full article for the impatient.

Quote:

Has the world gone INSANE?!?! You can't put a copyright on a single word like that! How long has the word "Candy" been a word? :ncool:

Wait, there's more!

Quote:

This is happening isn't it? The world is going to hell. Can someone restore the sanity, please?

Oh, HERE it comes!

Quote:

..............I'm...so...speechless. I'm so mad, that I can't think.

Fortunately, most games on mobile/tablet dont come with this sort of sheer lunacy attached.

The problem is that the games most people actually HEAR about, generally casual type games..... which are about 5 percent of the total selection of games on those.... tend to be under the really loopy "will do anything for half of a penny" type of publishers. Which then also creates the misconception that games like this are all that are on mobile.

It's a vicious cycle. Of derp.

lostonearth35
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21 Jan 2014, 10:03 pm

This is the stupidest thing ever. Does this mean now that we can no longer legally use the word candy for REAL candy because of some video game I don't care about at all? What are the people who make candy for a living going to do, change the names of their products to something like "sugar-based confection" or something? "Oh boy let's go buy some cotton sugar-based confection and sugar-based confection-coated apples at the fair". I hate the human race.

auntblabby
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21 Jan 2014, 10:06 pm

I think that is called "rent collecting." capitalism, phooey! did you know that there are patented surgical procedures that require the surrender of an exorbitant licensing fee to perform lifesaving surgery on hospital patients? s**t like that is part of the reason our American health care system is so damned ruinously expensive.

SabbraCadabra
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21 Jan 2014, 10:54 pm

There is no way this "news story" has any grain of truth to it, I refuse to believe any of it.

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21 Jan 2014, 11:17 pm

auntblabby wrote:

I think that is called "rent collecting." capitalism, phooey!

did you know that there are patented surgical procedures that require the surrender of an exorbitant licensing fee to perform lifesaving surgery on hospital patients? sh** like that is part of the reason our American health care system is so damned ruinously expensive.

This is something else. I don't think it's fair to blame this on capitalism.
It's corporatism, businesses using the force of the state to get ahead.
In capitalism, a business has to rely solely on the merit of it's own products and services to get ahead.
Corporatism is related to capitalism, but with a dash of fascism.

For years there has been there idea of the separation of church and state.
Now, we need a separation of business and state.

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Aspiegaming
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22 Jan 2014, 12:11 am

SabbraCadabra wrote:

There is no way this "news story" has any grain of truth to it, I refuse to believe any of it.

Here's more articles on the story.
Apparently, they're not enforcing against all uses of the word candy but that is still no way to bully other mobile game developers for using "Candy" in a game title.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... developers
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014- ... word-candy
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2089 ... eoQ.reddit
http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2014/01/20 ... infringing
This is still an all new low. Trademarking a common word is unacceptable. This will provoke some bad habits. If they can do it, every company will do it.

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22 Jan 2014, 12:48 am

If you'll all just excuse me, I'm off to trademark the word "the".

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22 Jan 2014, 1:57 am

how 'bout trademarking "trademark"?

AdamAutistic
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22 Jan 2014, 10:31 am

didn't facebook do something similar with "book"?

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23 Jan 2014, 5:57 pm

The madness continues.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/king-de ... anner-saga

Quote:

It seems King is at it again with their trademark BS. A couple days ago, I lost my mind over their recent trademark of the word candy. Now they're going after a new indie title over the word saga. Unlike candy, their saga trademark hasn't been approved yet, but that hasn't stopped them from sending an opposition letter to Stoic Studios.

They're working on a new game in The Banner Saga, but King says, "we already have a series of games where 'Saga' is key to the brand which our players associate with a King game". Meaning, someone attempting to buy Candy Crush Saga may accidently buy The Banner Saga 2 or whatever the sequel is called. Stoic is obviously pissed and exclaimed "we won't make a viking saga without the word 'saga,' and we don't appreciate anyone telling us we can't".

"Saga?" REALLY? Someone please set up a line and hold them down before they go any further.

Quote:

Who can blame them, a match three game is nothing like an epic RPG and besides, doesn't King realize how many saga's came before their little mobile game. I case they don't, a short list real games, that came before them, with saga in the title...

Romancing SaGa
Romancing SaGa 2
Romancing SaGa 3
SaGa Frontier
SaGa Frontier 2
Unlimited Saga
Emperors SaGa
God of War Saga Collection
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Vampire Saga: Welcome to Hell Lock
Legaia 2: Duel Saga
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Crimson Gem Saga
Marble Saga Kororinpa
King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga
Bit.Trip Saga
Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga
Vanguard Saga of Heroes The Granstream Saga
Baldur's Gate Original Saga with Tales of the Sword Coast
Mutant Fighter Mazin Saga
Pandora Saga
Metal Saga
Cognition: Complete Saga
Drakensang: Complete Saga
Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga
Dragon Ball Z: Sagas
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
Warcraft II - The Dark Saga
Command & Conquer Saga
The Saga of Ryzom
Culdcept Saga
MS Saga: A New Dawn
Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier
SAGA

King, you have lost my respect.

Let me guess..."Crush" is next?

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23 Jan 2014, 6:02 pm

Registering a trademark is one thing. Defending that trademark in court is another.

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23 Jan 2014, 6:04 pm

I've always been of the opinion that mobile gaming (mostly the pay-to-win model) is some sort of cross between Hitler and Skeletor in its pure evilness, and this only serves to cement my opinion. They don't care about consumers, they only care about making money.

This is a problem throughout the gaming industry, though. There's a reason that EA has won two Golden Poos in a row from the Consumerist as the Worst Company In America, beating out the likes of Facebook, AT&T, and Bank of America last year.

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10 Dec 2014, 3:40 pm

Don't forget Microsoft Windows.

They filed a lawsuit a few years ago against Lindows.

I understand that the term Windows was already in use for describing windowing systems on computers well before Microsoft trademarked the term.

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10 Dec 2014, 3:51 pm

I'm waiting for some bloodsucking capitalist rent-collector to somehow buy exclusive air rights so that the rest of us must pay him a royalty for us all to breathe.

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10 Dec 2014, 6:21 pm

Well there is a reason why King is one of the 4 mobile developers to actually make decent profit. :twisted:

Seriously though mobile gaming and apps aren't profitable for most companies on iOS because iOS users won't pay more than a few dollars for them.

It's worse on Android, Android users refuse to pay for apps a as general rule and they are notoriously known for pirating the paid apps.

Nearly all Android apps are profitable via in app ads.

The bubble on mobile market is getting ready to burst as revenue increases are slowing and prices are racing to the bottom.

Like the saying goes Apple users buy everything, Windows and Android users pirate everything...

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