Zynga has been accused of copying elements of games wholesale in the past and have had to settle lawsuits. Now, however, they’re accusing Brazilian social game developer Vostu for copyright infringement, saying they copied their games.
“Let’s be clear — it is one thing to be inspired by Zynga games, but it is entirely different to copy all of our key product features, product strategy, branding, mission statement and employee benefits lock, stock and barrel,” said Zynga’s general counsel, Reggie Davis. “We welcome Vostu into the arena of social games, but blatant infringement of our creative works is not an acceptable business strategy — it is a violation of the law.”
Vostu is denying the charges. “Zynga has been accused of copying so many games that they’ve sadly lost the ability to recognize games like ours that are chock full of original content and have been independently created. Vostu has 500 brilliant employees working night and day making hand drawings and writing proprietary code for online games that our 35 million users worldwide enjoy, said Votsu spokesperson Davidson Goldin. “Zynga’s anti-competitive effort to bully us with a frivolous lawsuit — especially when we have some of the same key investors — is pathetic. While Zynga plays games with the legal process we will continue focusing on using our substantial resources to create games that entertain our customers.”
Source: 1UP
