Slashdot Mirror
'CandySwipe' Crushed: When Game Development Turns Nasty
Nerval's Lobster writes "King, the gaming developer behind the monster hit Candy Crush Saga, has attracted a fair amount of criticism over the past few weeks over its attempt to trademark the word 'candy,' which isn't exactly an uncommon term. The company followed up that trademarking attempt by firing off takedown notices at other developers who use 'candy' in the titles of their apps. But things only got emotional in the past few days, when indie developer Albert Ransom published an open letter on his Website that excoriates King for what basically amounts to bullying. Ransom claims that he published CandySwipe in 2010, a full two years before Candy Crush Saga hit the market, and that the two games bear a number of similarities; after opposing King's attempts to register a trademark, Ransom found that his rival had taken things to a whole new level by purchasing the rights to a game called Candy Crusher and using that as leverage to cancel the CandySwipe trademark. Ransom claims he spent three years working on his game, and that King is basically robbing his livelihood. King was not effusive in its response. 'I would direct you to our stance on intellectual property,' a spokesperson for the company wrote in an email to Slashdot, which included a link to a letter posted online by King CEO Riccardo Zacconi. 'At this time, we do not have any comment to add beyond what is outlined in this letter.' Zacconi's various defenses in the letter seem a moot point in the context of CandySwipe, considering how Ransom has already abandoned the prospect of fighting to protect his intellectual property. But the two developers' letters help illustrate how downright nasty the casual-gaming industry has become over the past several quarters, as profits skyrocket and people attempt to capitalize on others' success."
They used the exact same fucking name and added another word in front of it and you're surprised this happened?
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
as intellectual property. It's a farce designed to prevent legitimate competition. It's like politics. I tell my friends that if this country had a straight up popular vote, we would never, ever again elect a Republican. Intellectual property is bogus... Compete or get out of the market. The people that push intellectual property tout the joys of an open market. Open market means just that... open to rabid competition. Compete on merit or GTFO.
"Same thing happened to Samsung. Here's a digital picture frame they made in 2005 and sold in 2006."
Get real. People were buying digital picture frames for their keychains before the iPhone came out. It was hardly a Samsung invention. Patent for digital picture frames was applied for clear back in 1996, and it wasn't Samsung.
If you are talking about the idea of the digital tablet, you have to go clear back to the Newspad from the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" which aired in 1968.