King.com, the creator of the popular mobile game Candy Crush Saga, has filed a request to trademark the word “candy” as it relates to mobile games and other products with an eye on expanding and protecting their brand. GameZebo has found that the filing was approved on January 15, 2014 and that takedown requests are already going out to developers who use the infringing term “candy” in the names of their apps. Many developers are sure to be affected considering the popularity of the generic term.
A troll has emerged to crush the developers holding the proverbial candy in their hands. Are developers at risk of future trademark troll shenanigans? Are more generic terms at risk? If successful, this could have massive implications for the app store and app developers who use app store optimization to try to gain visibility in the sea of apps.
In the meantime, some developers have taken matters into their own hands in an effort to take down the King Troll or have some fun at their expense.
Redditors at r/gamedev have launched a change.org petition to stop King.com from trademarking the words “candy” and “saga”. Meanwhile, a few intrepid indie game developers have launched the Candy Jam – a game jam where developers are urged to develop games that use the word “candy”… a lot.
Here are the rules of the Candy Jam:
MAKE A GAME INVOLVING CANDIES
CONSIDER USING THE WORD “CANDY” SEVERAL TIMES, ALSO “SCROLL”, “MEMORY”, “SAGA” AND “APPLE” MIGHT GIVE BONUS POINTS
How will this saga soap opera end? Will developers be able to keep a hold of their candy confectionary delights? Stay tuned.
Where do you stand on the debate of trademarking generic words for use in the app store? Leave your take in the comments.
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