King has bought an old trademark, and you're not going to like how they're using it | Gamezebo:

At the time of Ransomโ€™s filing, King had little ground to stand on. Ransomโ€™s game predated theirs, and he already held the mark for CANDYSWIPE, so it was up to the courts to decide. So hereโ€™s what King did: they bought an earlier trademark from another company, and are using that to try and have Ransomโ€™s CANDYSWIPE trademark registration cancelled.

The mark in question, CANDY CRUSHER, has been tied with game software and mobile applications (according to Kingโ€™s filing) since 2004. It was acquired by King from its previous owner, AIM Productions N.V., on January 10, 2014.

A guy has a game that was released months before Candy Crush, and whose name and approximate gameplay is reasonably reproduced in that later game. So he's got a trademark for CandySwipe, and fights Candy Crush's application for trademarking the name Candy Crush & Candy.  He, rightfully enough, seems to think he should have seniority in the candy-named, match three (?) games.

So Candy Crush buys an older game with a similar name so that they can shut him down.

Seriously, our legal system is too weird if not for words, then because of them.  Reminds me of advice I give kids, "Be careful how you word your wishes, in case they come true." Wish someone would warn lawmakers too. If only they didn't stand to gain by going through a revolving door out of lawmaking and into the business of selling the friction of enforcing them.

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