King, the company behind the infamous Candy Crush Saga game, has announced that they will no longer attempt to get a trademark on the word “candy.”

The move to trademark such a common word was met with controversy in the gaming industry as many felt that King was trying to kill any competition. However, King’s move has nothing to do with a change of heart about trademarking candy but how they’re going about defending their candy trademark.

In a statement to Kotaku, who discovered King’s request to withdraw its trademark application, King said that there were going about protecting their Candy Crush Saga intellectual property without copyrighting the word “candy.” In the EU, however, they are going to continue with trademarking “candy.”

In the US, King is going to enforce the trademark it bought for Candy Crusher. If you recall, it was King’s purchase of Candy Crusher that swung their trademark dispute with CandySwipe in their favour and saw CandySwipe shut down.

So even though King is no longer going forward with its attempt to trademark candy, nothing is really changing. Rather than enforcing a candy trademark, King’s strategy is just the same as it did with CandySwipe. It’s just another means to reach the same end that would have been achieved by trademarking candy.

And, it’s worth mentioning, that no one has heard anything about King abandoning its trademark on the word “saga.” It seems appropriate to point out given this news.

Source: Kotaku