'Candy' protest over King.com trademark move

Many indie gamemakers have been angered by King.com trademarking the word "candy" in Europe

Gamemakers have mounted a protest against King.com after it trademarked the word "candy".

The company trademarked the word in Europe in a bid to protect its best-selling Candy Crush Saga game.

The move angered many game developers who have now joined together to mount a protest called Candy Jam.

This involves producing lots of different games that use the word "candy" in their title. So far, more than 100 games have been produced.

The Candy Jam webpage said the protest was in response to King.com's action to defend its trademark. King has told at least one independent gamemaker to stop using the word "candy" in the title for his game.

The Candy Jam page accused King.com of being a "bully" and said the issue had now become one of "freedom and creativity".

In a bid to annoy King.com, the Jam has encouraged developers to make and submit games that also use the word "saga" - which King.com is also keen to trademark. Developers have been given until 3 February to submit games using one or both words to the site.

At the time of writing 111 different games were being featured on the Candy Jam website. The titles of the games included Candy Fight Saga, Candy Growth, Candy Cruiser Planetary Rescue Saga and Super Candy Handy Mandy Saga.

King has yet to comment on the appearance of Candy Jam and the games its backers have created.