Candy Crush Dev Also Chasing Indies Who Use ‘Saga’

The-Banner-Saga-campfire

Not content with stopping game creators from using the word “candy” in their titles, Candy Crush Saga developer King is now trying to block indie developers from using the word “saga,” too. The company has filed a “Notice of Opposition” against Stoic for its Viking-themed role-playing game The Banner Saga.

King made the filing with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on December 27, 2013, arguing that because it has 13 trademarks with the word “saga” in them, Stoic’s RPG shouldn’t be allowed to use the word. The Banner Saga is “confusingly and deceptively similar” to King’s other trademarks, the company claims.

It’s worth noting, however, that The Banner Saga — the game, not the name — bears no resemblance to Candy Crush Saga, or any of King’s other titles. It isn’t even remotely close. Furthermore, unlike the word “candy,” King doesn’t actually have a trademark on the word “saga.”

Candy Crush Saga (left) vs. The Banner Saga (right).

Candy Crush Saga (left) versus The Banner Saga.

Nevertheless, King “must oppose the trademark application to preserve its own position under trademark law,” the company told Kotaku.

King doesn’t want any money from Stoic; it just wants its trademark application for The Banner Saga to be refused, forcing it to rename its game. Pretty pathetic, don’t you think?