Laws gone wrong: the word "candy" now trademarked

[Icarus]

According to GameZebo and others, King.com Limited - those guys that made that stupidly popular casual game Candy Crush Saga - have trademarked the word "candy" and are making a play to trademark "saga" too.

http://www.trademarkia.com/candy-85842584.html
http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2014/01/20 ... infringing
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01 ... istocracy/

I mean, really? How dumb can the legal system be?

[Obiwanshinobi]

This came to mind immediately.

[CMoon]

This came to mind immediately.

Dude, it's all about Spirit of Eden.

[Ed Oscuro]

Whoa, let's not go throwing stones at the legal system yet. This probably hasn't been open to review yet and will be challenged by interested parties (i.e., anybody whose space this service mark is trying to invade, which is a lot of people.)

People attempt to register all kinds of crazy stuff, and most of it doesn't go through. Or it goes through for a while and gets challenged.

I don't know enough about the trademark process to say how far along they are, but this is far from sticking.

tl;dr - just another day at the office. Nothing to see here really. The only real headline is that, as usual, the USPTO processes are totally opaque to the layperson.

[BulletMagnet]

I recall reading that King supposedly only did this to somehow legally "display" that it values its brands, and doesn't actually intend to try to shut down Banner Saga or anything like that, but whatever its intentions/origins it's still a hot, embarrassing mess.

This side-note only adds to the facepalm factor.

EDIT: Jim Sterling goes into it a bit deeper here, alongside his usual shenanigans.

[Icarus]

This probably hasn't been open to review yet and will be challenged by interested parties…

Indeed, but it also means that currently, they can start to make claims against other developers. In fact, there are reports that some developers have changed the names of their apps out of fear of resulting high legal costs and drawn out processes, because they've received legal notice from King.com's lawyers relating to this.

Just having a preliminary acceptance of the trademark is enough in many cases.

…and doesn't actually intend to try to shut down Banner Saga or anything like that…

Yes they are, to an extent.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01 ... nner-saga/

Polygon wrote a pretty good article about all this. http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/21/533256 ... ally-means

I actually find legal news in the technology and gaming industries kind of interesting, mainly for how ridiculous some of the claims can be. Rounded rectangles, popular UI gestures, and now commonly used words.

[BrianC]

Makes me wonder if King is run by this guy.

[GaijinPunch]

Yet another reason to hate this fucking game.

[BrianC]

It annoys me that King can't make a single game without misusing the word "saga" and even go after companies that use it correctly.

[Ed Oscuro]

Polygon wrote a pretty good article about all this. http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/21/533256 ... ally-means

Another reason why Polygon is better than people think. When we actually look at that, we see this paragraph:

First, 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. 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. Until this process is completed, King doesn't have a legal claim to 'candy.'

They can send notices or C&D letters to people currently using the word "candy." But they do not own the mark, so anybody receiving such a letter should laugh at them and consult an attorney.

The filing is most likely about to be squashed with prejudice, as there are many people beyond poor app developers who will likely be impacted by this (the references in the filing to video discs and clothing should give a clue).

Most of the finger-pointing and doomsaying up to this point is premature. Even what King.com is doing is, while apparently dumb and wrong, not news in the slightest; as I said this kind of thing happens all the time, and while other trademark attorneys don't like it (it makes more work for them to challenge the filings) they will be able to oppose it and squash it.

The main problems, which have been problems for a long time now, are that apparently the examiners aren't squashing things that should not be filed for, and letting other people do it, and that nonspecialists are easily intimidated because they don't know their rights. But both of these problems can be fixed by a single attorney somewhere calling notice to the obviously untrademarkable nature of the term.

The final note at the end of the piece is worth taking notice of too. While I don't know about King.com - I wouldn't be surprised to find there's absolutely nothing about their franchise that's original - there is a problem where some company makes something original, and copycats ride on their coattails. (Incidentally, this is somewhat different from the point Polygon's attorney source is making.) While that kind of copying can be difficult to police, tying a particular word or phrase to that idea could help them keep copycats down. Obviously, this is not the best solution when it catches apparently innocent developers like Hsu, and where it's apparently less about trying to keep copycats down as to carve out a niche for itself by using the word, instead of its product. But I will say that the system has been in place for a long time, and attempts to try to alter intellectual property law could lead to a situation even worse than this.

itt: nonspecialists discover the earth is round, freakouts commence, film at 11.

[brokenhalo]

This is the company whose only claim to fame is a bejeweled hack, right?

[BrianC]

This side-note only adds to the facepalm factor.

The funny thing is that King's clone of Scamperghost used "Pac" in the title without permission from Namco. King's other games aren't very original either. Bubble Witch Saga is a blantant clone of Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move.

[Lord Satori]

Also, they apparently don't know what the word "saga" even means.

Companies like this shouldn't be allowed to exist.