Zynga Sues The Hell Out Of Brazilian Clone Vostu

http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/16/war-zynga-sues-the-hell-out-of-brazilian-clone-vostu/

by profitbaron • 15 years ago

43 18 15 years ago

techcrunch.com

LUTOPiA• 15 years ago

Zynga gets Zynga'd

>XD

thomasgerbe• 15 years ago

Yep. Pretty hypocritical of them to be outraged by copy-cats.

fragsworth• 15 years ago

Well, Zynga did have to settle a lot of lawsuits that other companies brought up. Seems fair to expect the same from other companies.

hammock• 15 years ago

I never understood why people think just because you are a hypocrite doesn't mean you still aren't entitled to all the rights everyone else is under the law.

It's a sad prospect to suggest that your basic property rights can be taken way for that. Doing one thing and saying another is a part of free speech, IMO.

mootothemax• 15 years ago

Ideas are a dime a dozen; stealing the execution is another thing altogether.

Shenglong• 15 years ago

If they succeed, wouldn't it be essentially overturning 17 USC 102(b)? If none of the graphics, code, or names are stolen, wouldn't this fall under a method of operation?

dangrossman• 15 years ago

The graphics are duplicated so closely... are they not derivative works? Only the copyright holder can creative derivative works.

sehugg• 15 years ago

Courts have found in the past that copying a game design closely enough is a violation of copyright (http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/Atari_v._North_American_Philips) and they've also found the opposite (http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/Data_East_USA_v._EPYX).

Also see this discussion on misc.misc, circa 1990, re: the Lotus 123 spreadsheet wars:

  If the plaintiff cannot show that 
  the target customer audience is UNlikely to recognize that the defendant's 
  product is not the same as the plaintiff's then recovery is barred.  Mere 
  similarity between plaintiff's and defendant's products is   not sufficient 
  to support a successful lawsuit.

Zynga may have a case here if they can prove that there was intent to make users think these were Zynga's games.

(i am not a lawyer, i just cut-and-paste from USENET)

hnsmurf2• 15 years ago

There's a trade dress issue here and I'd guess that's what Zynga's claiming. It seems rather clear that a consumer could confuse this company's products for one of Zynga's and that that is their intent. It's as if you made Cleanex Tissues and then copied the design of a Kleenex box.

citricsquid• 15 years ago

> and employee benefits

That seems mighty obscure and a weird thing to include.

staunch• 15 years ago

/me lights up the grellas bat signal.

zatara• 15 years ago

Is the Brazilian detail relevant? Or maybe it is is more difficult to sue Vostu over there.

lzm• 15 years ago

It isn't even Brazilian.

A comment from the article: "Vostu is an american company founded by former Harvard grads, with development studios in Argentina and targeting the biggest market for social games in LATAM, which is Brazil. JFYI."

meterplech• 15 years ago

IANAL: But, I bet Zynga ends up trying to buy them when the lawsuit settles. The huge IP threat certainly devalues the company. And regardless of their copycatting they have a big presence in a massive market that Zynga doesn't have.

Zynga Sues The Hell Out Of Brazilian Clone Vostu

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