And The Sixth Seal Opened, And Lo, Lawyers Poured From The Dark Places Of The Earth

“Your move, Mark.”

EA announces they are suing Zynga for copyright infringement, claims “The Ville” is a clone of Maxis’ “The Sims Social”.

This is kinda a big deal. Zynga’s somewhat loose respect for intellectual property of game design has been an open secret for quite some time. Now it’s going to be legally tested. To quote EA’s unusually well-crafted public statement on the matter:

Maxis isn’t the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product.  But we are the studio that has the financial and corporate resources to stand up and do something about it.

Or Zynga is going to give EA a LOT of money. Which at the moment is not a pleasant prospect.

Zynga’s response: “noobs“

It’s unfortunate that EA thought that this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles. It’s also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga’s CityVille game.

If you’d like to be Armchair Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, the actual complaint is here.

  • vinull

    I really feel that this blog has gone downhill and gaming news has taken over at the expense of tractor coverage.  If this continues I will have to remove this blog from my RSS reader, or at the very least read it with disdain.

  • http://twitter.com/JoshDrescher Rev Dr Josh Drescher
  • Shadow

    Do lawyers come from anywhere else?

  • Soufllame

    EA v Zynga.  Why do I feel there’s no one to root for.

  • http://twitter.com/D_0ne D-0ne

    I hope they both suffocate each other to death, painfully.  That’d be great.  

  • Chris Nahr

    I was about to complain about the lamentable lack of tractor coverage on this blog. I’m happy to see that others are already active on this important issue!

  • A Man In Black

    Root for EA. If EA wins, Zynga is one step further to falling apart. If Zynga wins, nothing changes.

  • Dennis Anderson+btoys

     I am rooting for the lawyers to win in this one.

  • Like2trip

    So wait Zynga’s response is “Well we might have done it but they did it to by copying our copy of their game” ?  Doesn’t this break the laws of physics or something?

  • David

    They always do. :(