King, the company that recently courted controversy when they tried to lay claim to the word ‘Candy', has backed down from their trademark claim in the U.S.
According to documents posted yesterday, the social game developer (Candy Crush Saga, Papa Pear Saga) has abandoned their claim over the word ‘Candy', a move that follows recent objections over the way they allegedly tried to manoeuvre around a game called CandySwipe (which itself followed accusations of cloning and a dispute with Stoic over the word ‘Saga').
Here's the statement that King issued yesterday (via Kotaku): "King has withdrawn its trademark application for Candy in the U.S., which we applied for in February 2013 before we acquired the early rights to Candy Crusher. Each market that King operates in is different with regard to IP. We feel that having the rights to Candy Crusher is the best option for protecting Candy Crush in the U.S. market. This does not affect our E.U. trademark for Candy and we continue to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP."
As mentioned in the statement, this only applies to the U.S. market. The trademark claim still stands here in Europe. Perhaps the move by King in America is an indicator that the company's stance may soften over here, perhaps not. We'll have to wait and see.