Back in 2015, King (developer of Candy Crush) brought Korean studio Avocado Entertainment to court of IP infringement of its game, Farm Heroes Saga. The “copycat” game, Forest Mania, was accused by King of plagiarizing Farm Heroes Saga’s user interface (UI), map structure, board layouts and special tiles design. Avocado Entertainment retorted that everything King mentioned is an “idea”.
While the Korean court initially granted a victory to King, the decision was recently reversed after an appeal. The court then ruled that Forest Mania did not break any infringement law, and King responded by saying “We regret this appeal decision, and if we allow game developers to easily mimic the games already released, their creativity will be threatened.” An appeal by King is being prepared.
