If King - or any company, for that matter - were to take a developer to court over the use of a trademarked word, the onus would be on the plaintiff to prove that a reasonable person in that market would be confused into thinking that the defendant's product was related to the plaintiff's. Under trademark law, the "senior user" of the word would prevail. The company could not, for example, prevail in a lawsuit against a company that made a game with the word 'candy' in its title if said game was released before Candy Crush Saga. law, trademarking is less about owning a word and more about protecting a brand. Patent and Trademark Office with no opposition and King receives the trademark for 'candy.' This does not mean that all candy references would be off-limits. Until this process is completed, King doesn't have a legal claim to 'candy.'īut say the application passes through the U.S. When an application is published for opposition, there is a 30-day period where any third party can object to the registration on the grounds that it could negatively affect them. This does not mean that all candy references would be off-limits.įirst, it's important to note that King doesn't currently own the trademark for 'candy.' The company has filed an application for it and, at the time of writing, it is about to be published for opposition. But according to legal experts Polygon spoke to, it's more complicated than that, and there's more to it than just a word. A candy-themed game jam even popped up in response to the trademark registration. To many, it also seems unfair that a big developer should be able to "own" a word. King's move has raised concerns that if the company successfully trademarks 'candy,' no one will be able to use it in any of their game titles. The company, best known for making the highly successful puzzle game Candy Crush Saga and other titles in its Saga series, was accused of throwing its weight around and intimidating small developers. When it was recently revealed that social game developer filed to register the trademark for the word 'candy,' the response from fellow developers and game players was less than kind.
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