The Candy Crush Saga Ends in Abandonment
Updating my February 3, 2014 blog post, King, the maker of Candy Crush Saga, has filed for abandonment of their trademark application for the word ‘Candy’ in the United States. The application was published for legal opposition on February 25, 2014, and the U.S. Trademark Office received King’s request for express abandonment of its application on February 24, 2014. The U.S. Serial Number for the application is 85/842,584. King had been extremely aggressive in opposing and policing use of the ‘Candy’ and ‘Saga’ word marks. As previously written about, King has sent numerous cease-and-desist letters to other game developers and also used an acquisition of a ‘Candy Crusher’ trademark in February to shut down a similar-themed game called CandySwipe, despite the game pre-dating its own inception by several years.
This recent application abandonment is just another page in the ongoing drama between King and independent developers that have opposed King’s attempt to monopolize trademark use of commonly used words like ‘Candy’ and ‘Saga.’
While King’s abandonment of the trademark application may seem like no surprise due to the overwhelming unpopularity of its recent intellectual property decisions, King has stated that it will still move forward with its legal opposition to the non-candy related Viking game, “The Banner Saga.”
Sources: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/02/king-files-to-abandon-controversial-candy-trademark-in-us/ http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn85842584&docId=REA20140225091947#docIndex=1&page=1
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