Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga was downloaded over 500 million times from just the iOS App Store in 2013 King

Candy Crush Saga creator's King have successfully trademarked "candy" and are now sending out legal warnings to developers whose games include the word in their title.

King filed their trademark request last February and it was approved on 15 January, 2014.

GameZebo report that they are sending legal notices via Apple requesting the removal of any iOS games that have "candy" in their title.

Benny Hsu told GameZebo that he contacted King after receiving a letter asking that his game All Candy Casino Slots be taken down, adding: "Lots of devs are frustrated because it seems so ridiculous."

According to Hsu, King replied saying that the use of "Candy Slots" in his game "amounts to trade mark infringement and is likely to lead to consumer confusion and damage to our brand".

Legal expert Martin Schwimmer explained to the site that developers may be able to claim that their inclusion of the word "Candy" was their own, and not influenced by Candy Crush Saga.

He added: "Someone can't plausibly claim that they came up with the term 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' on their own. An incredibly unique trademark like that is somewhat easy to protect.

"As to how far King can enforce its rights, it will be a function of how strong its mark has become, and how similar the third party name is. It would likely be able to enforce its rights against marks that are connotatively, phonetically or visually similar, for games that are conceivably competitive."

King's trademark doesn't just cover games however, it also extends to headphones, calculators, phone cases, tablet cases and mobile ring tones.

"King can't go after candy companies because candy companies don't use the term 'Candy' as a trademark – they use it to identify their product," Schwimmer added.