Makers of Candy Crush Attempt To Sue The Banner Saga

In one of the most surreal stories we've seen in a while King (formerly King.com), makers of Candy Crush Saga, are opposing the trademark application recently filed by Stoic regarding their newly released RPG,The Banner Saga.

It would seem that the bone of contention is the word saga. King filed a Notice of Opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office on December 27th 2013 stating that because King have 13 games with the word "saga" in them, Stoic's viking RPG isn't allowed to use it.

King have apparently applied to trademark the words "candy" and "saga" and are now going after anyone who tries to use either one, despite the application still being processed.

This is an important issue for King because we already have a series of games where "Saga" is key to the brand which our players associate with a King game; Candy Crush Saga, Bubble Witch Saga, Pet Rescue Saga and Farm Heroes Saga. All of these titles have already faced substantive trademark and copyright issues with clones.

- King Spokesperson

Despite the fact that The Banner Saga bears no resemblance to any of King's games they are still pushing forward with this notice. It is understandable that they are trying to protect their successful games catalogue from copycats and clones, however it is difficult to see how trademarking two such common words will help their cause. Just the act of trying has already caused a huge backlash against them from the industry - let's hope they know what they are doing.