The maker of the wildly successful smartphone game "Candy Crush Saga" has been cracking down on app developers for creating games with names too similar to its saccharine cash cow. Now those developers are striking back by designing hundreds of ridiculous games as part of its “Candy Jam” protest.
"Candy Crush" has resulted in some impressive numbers for King Digital Entertainment, generating 78 percent of the company’s revenue. (King reported $568 million in profits in 2013).
The backlash against King started when the company sent letters to the makers of two games warning that they had infringed on the company’s intellectual property rights: "All Candy Casino Slots," for using the word “candy,” and "The Banner Saga," for using the word “saga.”
In fact, King has filed to register the trademark for the word “candy." Games are regularly taken down from the iOS and Anrdoid app stores for creating consumer confusion. It happened most recently with "Flappy Bird," after developers churned out a number of similar — if not nearly identical — titles featuring various flapping creatures.
Still, the move was met with anger by some developers, who quickly created more than 450 games with names like "Super Candy Scroll," "This Game Is Not About Candy," and {Candy Princess Saga: Crush King Trademark!"
“The Candy Jam is a protest against both the system and those abusing it,” wrote the protest’s organizers.
No, you don’t have to care about intellectual property rights to play the candy-themed browser games. But it certainly adds a self-righteous bonus to getting a high score.