King Has 'Crush' Trademark Opposed By Dr. Pepper

from the by-their-own-petard dept

Fri, Jun 23rd 2017 3:47pm — Timothy Geigner

App-maker King, of Candy Crush fame, has built up a reputation for itself as a trademark bully. The company has previously attempted to threaten pretty much any game or mobile app that utilizes the words "candy" or "saga." And if that sounds insane to you, you're not alone, as there have been several instances of severe backlash against how King goes about "protecting" its trademarks.

As this site's version of the saying goes: live by the intellectual property, die by the intellectual property. Well, not die, perhaps, but it's slightly amusing to watch King have its "Crush" trademark opposed by Dr. Pepper.

In a bid to create a further layer of protection for their games, King.com have filed an application to protect ‘Crush’ as a trade mark in the US for confectionery. Unhappy about this application, Dr Pepper have filed an opposition claiming the ‘Crush’ trade mark will damage the goodwill of their own ‘Crush’ marks.

Dr Pepper owns several trade marks for the word for a number of items including certain confectionary items and cosmetics. Dr Pepper has based their claims on the fact they believe by allowing the application by King.com, it will cause dilution of the distinctive quality of Dr Peppers marks.

Ok, let's get the obvious out of the way: this is a fairly silly opposition if its basis is to do with customer confusion. Frankly, I can't imagine how many people are even aware that the Crush mark is being used in the confections space by Dr. Pepper. I certainly can't think of a single Crush-branded candy. My quick google search didn't turn up much either. Crush is known for its soft drinks. Meanwhile, King is known for its apps, and even if it makes the move into retail in the way that Angry Birds has, and that retail business includes candies, who is going to confuse any of that with Dr. Pepper's Crush brand?

That being said, this opposition is certainly more valid than King's bullying of the makers of The Banner Saga over that last word. I won't say this has reached the level of schadenfreude for me, but it is somewhat hard to get any tears to build up over King having to endure a silly opposition to its trademark.

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Filed Under: candy crush, crush, trademark
Companies: dr. pepper, king

22 Comments

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Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 23 Jun 2017 @ 3:25pm

Could it be?
King's entry into the confectionery market will be heralded by the appearance of Angry Bird Drops ((TM) they hope)). That's right, the candy will resemble dried bird droppings but be as sweet as...um...erm...candy, that's it candy.

Timothy, you set us up for this, didn't you?
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James Burkhardt (profile), 23 Jun 2017 @ 4:03pm

Actually, I cn understand this. Dr. Pepper is actually big into soda-flavored Branded candy. Dr Pepper and Crush licorice are great, and I know there are other types of candy branded with the Dr. Pepper marks.

I could easily see a Crush branded candy being confused as to wether it was the soda Crush or the "candy" Crush.

Not likely in the store, as visual branding could distinguish the two. No, I'm talking in audio and text descriptions, that do not necessarily include the visual branding.

But then again, Timothy might not have the combination of sweet tooth and dollar store/amazon shopping habits I have.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2017 @ 4:07pm

Candy Crush Soda Saga... That is all.
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Phoenix84 (profile), 23 Jun 2017 @ 4:12pm

You didn't search well enough
There is candy under the Crush name, owned by Dr Pepper.

2 second google search with the correct terms.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/A-W-Root-Beer-Orange-Crush-Dr-Pepper-Flavored-Candy-Canes-12-count- 6-oz/38435966
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Phoenix84 (profile), 23 Jun 2017 @ 4:18pm

Re: You didn't search well enough
Forgot to add,
I've seen Dr Pepper flavored candies before (jelly beans). So it's not a stretch to think they could have Crush branded candy too.
Since I, as a consumer, know they have candy, if I see Crush candy, I might think it's from Dr Pepper.

I don't like King anyway, but Dr Pepper has a solid case here, IMO.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2017 @ 4:57pm

They should make Crush bigger and call it Monster Crush
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Roger Strong (profile), 23 Jun 2017 @ 6:08pm

Re: You didn't search well enough
A Google image search on [orange crush candy] shows quite a wide variety of Crush-branded candies.
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Archillies, 23 Jun 2017 @ 6:19pm

Re:
LOL excellent idea, lets pull Monster cable and Monster drinks into this cesspool...
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2017 @ 6:40pm

Castration is overdue for all parties concerned. We call it public domain. Contrary to what the media would have you believe a majority of us don't appreciate having smoke blown up our ass.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2017 @ 7:27pm

Source article: "Dr Pepper has based their claims on the fact they believe by allowing the application by King.com, it will cause dilution of the distinctive quality of Dr Peppers marks."

Timmy's take: "Ok, let's get the obvious out of the way: this is a fairly silly opposition if its basis is to do with customer confusion."

You should look up "dilution." Confusion is irrelevant.

Why Mike has you writing about trademark law, I'll never understand.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2017 @ 8:19pm

LMGTFY
Did you use google?

Candy canes, licorice, jelly beans, ...

Admittedly, I wasn't familiar with them before hand, but I am by no means surprised.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2017 @ 9:41pm

Crush soda flavored gummies, bottle cap fizzies, and even Twizzlers, all exist. Just going to point this out. It won't confuse customers over ownership, but it might cause confusion regarding affiliation, contractual endorsement and licensing, and the like.
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Pixelation, 24 Jun 2017 @ 7:59am

Re: Could it be?
"...the candy will resemble dried bird droppings but be as sweet as...um...erm...candy, that's it candy."

And the kiddies will say, "That's some good shit!"
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2017 @ 11:15am

How does it get off calling itself "King?" Arrogant probably set itself up just so it can troll and sue as many as possible.. Is that even plausable?
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2017 @ 1:12pm

Carbonated prune juice
What candy would anyone make based on their base product of carbonated prune juice? Their candy would have to include caffeine, mostly sugar and the faint taste of things other than prunes, but still would be mostly prune.

King Crush? Simpler, damned near anything in the shapes evoking their game.

Simple mobile game figures vs prune candy.

I'm confused but not about which is which.
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Kevin, 24 Jun 2017 @ 2:16pm

Have you never heard of branded games? Dr. Pepper's concern here likely isn't that King is going to start making real candy, or soda, or cosmetics, it's that it might appear that a King app with "Crush(TM)" in the title indicates association with Dr. Pepper's Crush mark.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2017 @ 8:48pm

I'm pretty sure dr pepper has many deals where they license crush and the soda flavors to confectioneries. That or I've eaten knock off crush gummies from a truck stop outside of el paso
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2017 @ 5:33am

"Candy Crush Soda Saga"

"Candy (Crush Soda) Saga"

Just saying...
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cecil, 26 Jun 2017 @ 5:59am

Crush candy, not Dr. Pepper candy, although there is that too
Orange, lemon lime, etc not prune juice. :D And since they advertised back in the 50's that you could serve it hot, maybe hot beverages are covered too? They had to know that someone would have to step forward and protect the crush mark, because as they explain it, that's what you have to do, litigate single words for any possible application to anything and make a general AHat of one's self... That's what the law says right?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2017 @ 6:31am

I'm not proud to say I just eat an Orange Crush Pop Tart.
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NaBUru38 (profile), 26 Jun 2017 @ 8:20am

I've read that companies oppose the use of a brand for unrelated products, feating for dillution of the brand, is a legal requirement to keep the trademark. If they don't do it, others can claim "hey, the company isn't protecting its trademark, so it's invalid".

It's not a legal drama, it's a legal farce.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2017 @ 10:20am

Re:
Don't forget the jelly beans too!
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