“Good for you, you win,” says Albert Ransom. “I hope you’re happy taking the food out of my family’s mouth when CandySwipe clearly existed well before Candy Crush Saga.”
CandySwipe was there before King, and registered its trademark before King did its Candy Crush, so when confusion arose over whose candy was what, CandySwipe‘s Albert Ransom went to battle. Candy Crush, Ransom argued, infringed on CandySwipe‘s registered trademark and good will. There’s a likelihood of confusion said Ransom, an argument King should be very familiar with, since it’s the same argument it’s been using all this while to crush other companies’ candy under its boot.
It’s hard to go to war with King, and Ransom has given in. “I have spent over three years working on this game as an independent app developer,” says Ransom in an open letter to King. “I learned how to code on my own after my mother passed and CandySwipe was my first and most successful game; it’s my livelihood, and you are now attempting to take that away from me.”
The end came when King bought rights to a game called Candy Crusher; rights which it used to argue that CandySwipe‘s trademark should be taken away, since Crusher‘s candy predates Swipe.
“Your move to buy a trademark for the sole purpose of getting away with infringing on the CandySwipe trademark and goodwill just sickens me,” says Ransom. But there’s no fighting it, so CandySwipe‘s about to be one more victim of the King juggernaut.
It’s not even as if Swipe and Crush have much in common. Though they share a visual aesthetic, the match-3 gameplay isn’t that similar. Yet since Crush has the benefit of fame, Google searches for Swipe turn up Crush instead. Swipe became the game people sank with low review scores, thinking it was a clone even though it predated Crush. That was why Ransom took up the fight. There was actual, documented likelihood of confusion.
Not any more. “I wanted to take this moment to write you this letter so that you know who I am,” Ransom concludes. “Because I now know exactly what you are.
“Congratulations on your success!”
Source: Albert Ransom
Published: Feb 12, 2014 04:10 pm