Social game developer King recently responded to concerns over a trademark dispute with developer Stoic over the use of the word 'saga' in the game title The Banner Saga, saying that it is not trying to stop Stoic from using the word.
King currently holds the trademark for the word saga in the field of software and video games. The company filed an opposition against Stoic in December of 2013 over the mark The Banner Saga. However, a spokesperson for the company recently issued a statement to Polygon explaining the move was not to stop Stoic from using the word.
"King has not and is not trying to stop Banner Saga from using its name. We do not have any concerns that Banner Saga is trying [to] build on our brand of our content. However, like any prudent company, we need to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP, both now and in the future," the statement reads
"In this case, that means preserving out ability to enforce our rights in cases where other developers may try to use the Saga mark in a way which infringes our IP and rights and causes player confusion. If we had not opposed Banner Saga's trademark application, it would be much easier for real copy cats to argue that their use of 'Saga' was legitimate. This is an important issue for King because we already have a series of games where 'Saga is key to the brand which our players associate with a King game; Candy Crush Saga, Bubble Witch Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, Farm Heroes Saga and so on. All these titles have already faced substantive trademark and copyright issues with clones."
The statement comes in the wake of King filing to register the trademark 'candy.' The company came under fire from members of the gaming community, who believed it was being overly litigious.