From King’s January blog post:

We’ve been the subject of no little scorn for our actions on this front, but the truth is that there is nothing very unusual about trademarking a common word for specific uses. Think of “Time,” “Money,” “Fortune,” “Apple” and “Sun”, to name a few. We are not trying to control the world’s use of the word “Candy;” having a trademark doesn’t allow us to do that anyway. We’re just trying to prevent others from creating games that unfairly capitalise on our success.

Looks like ZeptoLab doesn’t agree with them.

The re/code article (linked via the headline) ends with this:

And one footnote for the cynics: Yes, in addition to putting the spotlight on a notable trademark controversy, this also seems to be a publicity stunt. While Candy Crush Saga has consistently been the No. 1 or 2 top-grossing app on iPhones and iPads for the past 90 days, ZeptoLab’s latest game Cut the Rope 2 has fizzled since launch, peaking at around No. 28 in December and falling since then to as low as No. 358 on iPhone earlier this month.