Well, that sucks.
It was already known that King, developer of the sickeningly addictive mobile game Candy Crush Saga were a bit high on their own success when they publicly went on a trademarking spree in an effort to “protect” their now-lucrative brand. This began with the pathological desire to trademark the word “Candy” as it relates to their software, and then doubling down on the insanity by trying the word “Saga”, virtually ignoring the fact that board, video, and card games alike have been using those names for years. Though they’ve also been accused of copying others games in the past, those instances have been mostly handled with a broad shrug, deft legalese, and the unfortunate reminder that copyright law is its own double-edged sword when it comes to the definition of “derivative”.
Shouldn’t getting away with it be enough?
Especially if it’s off the back of your most successful title?
According to Albert Ransom, apparently not. In what amounts ultimately to a depressing obituary/letter of congratulations, the creator of the mobile game CandySwipe details the -ahem- saga if you will, with the disenfranchised programmer condemning King for essentially “taking the food out of [his] family’s mouth”. How? by ducking the legal system in a way that allows them to silently kill his game off, rather than engage in what they knew was a legitimate claim from the developer when he filed against them for “likelihood of confusion” in 2012. Given that King’s game bears more than a striking resemblance to his title in look and mechanics, it isn’t that hard to believe.
The real rub about all this is, despite the similarities, obviously derivative content, and the fact that CandySwipe never reached the popularity of Candy Crush Saga, he never tried to have their game removed or otherwise interrupted from sale. This just makes what they’ve done doubly vile, and unnecessary. There are too many games in the app store that are a clone, of a clone, of a clone. There’s no reason the two could not coexist on some level, and unless CandySwipe is disrupting the near $800,000 King pulls daily from the app in revenue, this is just a very public case of King running damage control, and sweeping a fellow indie under the carpet to do it.
I wanted to take this moment to write you this letter so that you know who I am. Because I now know exactly what you are. Congratulations on your success!
Bleh.
