CandySwipe creator Albert Ransom, founder of Runsome Apps, has penned a furious open letter to King.com, the developer of the ultra popular Candy Crush Saga. Ransom is taking aim at the game app giant for its questionable intellectual property rights practices.

In his letter posted on his Web site, Ransom detailed how King.com crushed its smaller competitor by not only developing a game that is strikingly similar to his own, but also by registering the word “Candy,” which would perhaps effectively render his CandySwipe trademark useless.

“Congratulations! You win!” the independent developer sarcastically wrote, adding that he created his game in memory of his late mother who passed away from leukaemia at 62.

CandySwipe first appeared on Android in November 2010, which was several months before Candy Crush appeared on King.com, and two years before Candy Crush Saga appeared on the App Store. The games are so similar to each other that many have thought, and some still continue to think, that CandySwipe was just another cheap knockout of the more popular game.

Ransom then trademarked the word “candyswipe” to protect his app. He was granted the trademark in July 2011.

When King tried to trademark “candy crush saga,” Ransom opposed because the game was strikingly similar to CandySwipe.

King didn’t want to be restricted, and so it announced its intention to trademark the word “candy” in January, which was met with heavy criticism from the Internet. Ransom told Gamezebo that he planned to oppose the application.

But as it happened, King purchased an even earlier trademark for “Candy Crusher,” which covers game software and mobile apps from 2004. It is now using this trademark to invalidate Ransom’s “candyswipe” trademark.

Candy Crusher, which according to Ransom, is nothing like CandySwipe of even Candy Crush Saga.

“Good for you, you win. I hope you’re happy taking the food out of my family’s mouth when CandySwipe clearly existed well before Candy Crush Saga,” Ransom said in the letter.

He continued, “I have spent over three years working on this game as an independent app developer. I learned how to code on my own after my mother passed and CandySwipe was my first and most successful game; it’s my livelihood, and you are now attempting to take that away from me.

“You have taken away the possibility of CandySwipe blossoming into what it has the potential of becoming. I have been quiet, not to exploit the situation, hoping that both sides could agree on a peaceful resolution. However, your move to buy a trademark for the sole purpose of getting away with infringing on the CandySwipe trademark and goodwill just sickens me.”

Read his full letter here.

Candy Swipe:

Candy Crush Saga:

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