Candy Crush makers trademark the word 'candy'

You want to use the word “candy” in your app? Too bad, since the owners of Candy Crush owns the word now. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has approved a filing by King.com for granting it trademark for the word “candy”.   The app’s makers had submitted the filing for the trademark back in February 6, 2013 and it has been approved nearly a year later. The Candy Crush Saga developers will now be granted exclusive rights to the word “candy” when it comes to video games, gambling services, amusement parks, and a lot more. All the company now needs is a signature on its application from an assigned examining authority.   Gamezebo is now reporting that app developers who have the word candy in their name have started receiving emails from Apple, asking them to take their apps off the Store. The offending apps with “candy” in their title, bizarrely include apps like software, clothing and even educational apps. The publication further adds that King.com is definitely asking app makers to remove their games. Other app makers who believe that they could be damaged by the trademark have up to 30 days to challenge this claim.   Given Candy Crush Saga’s crazy popularity, the casual game has seen a host of copycat apps crop up on app stores. However, trademarking the word candy and launching an attack on all apps, regardless of their purpose does come across as a little absurd.  However, even Zynga, maker of games such as FarmVille, CityVille and PetVille has in the past sued game developers for using the suffix “ville” in their titles.