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Apple bombarded with candy-themed games in protest at the word 'candy' being trademarked
Such sweet, sweet revenge. After the maker of the hugely popular Candy Crush series of games on the App Store somehow managed to trademark the word "candy" in Europe, other developers have started to fight back by blitzing Apple with an insulin-inducing array of Candy-themed game submissions. More than 100 hastily prepared titles have already been put forward as part of an organized "Candy Jam" protest against the trademarking of common words, including such gobstoppers such as CAN D, ThisGameIsNotAboutCandy, CanDieCanDieCanDie and the inimitable Candy_Game ("Press to hear Candy.") In the meantime, the developer at the center of the controversy, King.com, continues to pursue legal action against those who use any of words in its arsenal of trademarks, even those that have nothing to do with sugar. This apparently includes one poor dev who had the cheek to use the word "saga" in a Norse mythology-themed game called The Banner Saga -- a title that treads too closely to Candy Crush Saga, according to legal documents filed by King. What's more, now that King has also filed for new trademarks in the US, this whole saga (eek) could be about to get even sicklier.
The Candy Jam invites devs to make games using the industry's litigious vocabulary
In response to news that Candy Crush Saga developer King has trademarked the word "candy," and has begun enforcing it in a way reminiscent of patent trolling, indie devs Cariboo and UUAV have established The Candy Jam. The Candy Jam invites developers to make games involving the litigious world of sweets, throwing "bonus points" behind teams that make liberal use of other common words dredged up in recent outrageous trademark fillings, such as "scroll," "saga," "edge," and more. The game jam is open to developers from today through February 3. Why hold a gamejam revolving around the current candy saga? "Because trademarking common words is ridiculous and because it gives us an occasion to make another gamejam," the event's website proclaims.
