‘Protect your brand’ warning follows high profile Candy Crush Saga trademark case

An intellectual property specialist is warning businesses of the importance of protecting their brand after the makers of hugely popular game Candy Crush Saga controversially trademarked the word ‘candy.’

It was announced recently that gaming company King.com moved to trademark the word in Europe to protect its best-selling Candy Crush Saga game, popular with mobile phone and tablet users. It had already trademarked the word in America.

The controversial decision angered other game developers who could be prevented from using the word ‘Candy’ in their own games.

Benjamin Dredge, solicitor in the corporate team at Lancashire law firm Napthens, and an intellectual property specialist, warns that the news highlights the importance of trademarking a company name early on in the business’ life.

Napthens operates an online trademark application service which is proving popular with businesses wanting a cost effective method to register a trade mark while receiving professional legal advice on the process.

He said: “This is an interesting development because it looks like King.com is only now flexing its muscles in regards to arguably its most valuable piece of intellectual property. Figures show that 500 million people have installed Candy Crush around the world.

“As a brand owner, it is important to get a trademark registered as early as possible. This provides invaluable protection if the business and its brand becomes successful in the future.

“It’s inevitable that once a brand begins to do well and is recognisable, people will copy it. Protecting a brand at that stage is difficult – a business may struggle to register a trademark and then enforcing it may be expensive. It can often be too late. “Registering a trademark early on will involve a relatively small up-front cost, and offers major protection for a business.”