A Maltese-registered company that is behind the highly popular game ‘Candy Crush’ is seeking to stop American game developers from using the word ‘Candy’ in their releases, claiming they are trying to benefit from the enormous reputation the game enjoys.

The action is being taken by King.com Ltd - a holding company registered at a St Julian's address - against American game developers TeamLava, LLC, Storm8 Studios LLC ltd.

A Maltese court this afternoon decided to temporarily adjourn two cases filed by King.com Ltd, pending the outcome of a related case before an EU  trade marks and design court.

The cases were filed in September 2014 after King.com Ltd filed a judicial protest claiming that the defendant companies had created similar games which were branded “Candy Mania and Candy Blast Mania”.

The holding company accused the American developers of  tarnishing the reputation of its game and it requested the court to declare that the use of the term “Candy” was a contravention of its trademark rights.

It asked the court to order the American developers to stop using this name and to award financial damages in its favour.

Defendant companies TeamLava and Storm8 replied that King.com Ltd’s claims were already subject to proceedings before the European Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market(OHIM). They then filed a counter-claim, arguing that the trademarks were lacking in distinctive character and did not describe the product. They requested the court to declare the trademarks registered to King.com Ltd to be invalid and prohibit their use.

In two partial sentences, the First Hall of the Civil Court presided by Judge Mark Chetcuti, said the court considered the action brought by King.com Ltd to be one about a breach of community trademark .

The court held that the counter claim filed by the defendants raised issues which had to be conclusively addressed before it continued to hear the case. It noted that it would be impractical, if not dangerous, for it to declare the violation of a right which itself was still being contested

The court upheld the request that the case be temporarily adjourned pending the outcome of proceedings before the OHIM.

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