EA Sues Zynga for Copyright Infringement

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

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Electronic Arts is adding to Zynga’s woes this week by filing a lawsuit against the company for copyright infringement. The suit alleges that Zynga’s The Ville is a knockoff of EA’s The Sims.

By calling Zynga out on this illegal practice, we hope to have a secondary effect of protecting the rights of other creative studios who don't have the resources to protect themselves."
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Sounds like "sue them out of buisness" more then anything else. Just think at how many suits EA would get against them, if this flew.
 
I dislike both companies, but dislike Zynga a lot more. Don't think I'd ever say this, but I hope EA wins.
 
35388-LiberationDay.jpg
 
and the Sims was a direct copyright infringement of every dollhouse that girls around the world grew up with
 
It seems like the companies that are on the slippery slope downwards are getting hit with lawsuits because they're considered fragile, I guess. Nokia, Motorola, Yahoo, RIM and now Zynga all seemingly hit with more lawsuits after they've had to shed jobs, IP or simply bleeding money.

Considering this is EA vs Zynga I'm rather hoping they both lose :p
 
pelo said:
It seems like the companies that are on the slippery slope downwards are getting hit with lawsuits because they're considered fragile, I guess. Nokia, Motorola, Yahoo, RIM and now Zynga all seemingly hit with more lawsuits after they've had to shed jobs, IP or simply bleeding money.

Considering this is EA vs Zynga I'm rather hoping they both lose :p
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Yes, they are all at it these days. The bigger companies are trying to eliminate any upcoming competition.

(That image of the game before “The Sims” 2000 was for “Liberation Day” 1998, Publisher: Interactive Magic
Developer: Les Productions Micomeq. A sequel to “Fallen Haven”. Similar to “Fallout” & “Fallout 2”.)
 
I hope this gets thrown out of court. The last thing we need are software patent lawsuits applying to gameplay style.
 
Has anyone actually SEEN "The Ville"?

It is an almost carbon copy of The Sims...EA definitely has a case here! And I for one think The Sims was most definitely a original idea at the time, EA didn't copy or steal shit from anyone. If you think they did (like using some dumbass "doll house" excuse up above) then you need to get out of your EA hate rage mode and just admit that EA is legit in this case.

Zynga...stealing ideas since 2007!

The Ville
theville530.jpg


The Sims
The+sims+free+download+games.jpg
 
aero449 said:
I hope this gets thrown out of court. The last thing we need are software patent lawsuits applying to gameplay style.
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Its not just gameplay style...its an obvious rip-off of The Sims...see my post right above!

I hope Zynga gets spanked for this shit...I don't think any original ideas come from this "developer"...
 
JoeUser said:
Its not just gameplay style...its an obvious rip-off of The Sims...see my post right above!

I hope Zynga gets spanked for this shit...I don't think any original ideas come from this "developer"...
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Twitter is an obvious rip-off of [H]ardForum & GSM SMS.:rolleyes:

You don't know the developer. He may have adapted his 1998 engine for this.:p
 
Call of Duty (2003)(EA) and Battlefield (EA) is a rip-off of Medal of Honor (1999)
 
I have been programming & playing games for over 35 years. That “Sims 1” engine was a generic engine design around year 1998-2000. I cannot say that the “Family” theme was popular then though. I can say World War was a popular. The fact that that engine design could re-emerge or the “Family” theme could be used on another engine, is perfectly acceptable to me.
 
So ID should sue every fps game maker out there ?this is stupid,so what if it's similar,should Sims be the only game of its kind in the market just because it was the first?stupid game patents ...
 
Western games have always pinched, recycled and reinterpreted ideas from other games. I think the hate for Zynga is that they do it in such a wholesale, literal and extreme way. They're basically a factory churning out copies of other games that they use as a design template, with only minor changes to the art.
 
I hate the concept of lawsuits, patents, copyright and all that bullshit. Who freaking cares if it looks similar. Why should there only be one of everything? This is just stupid.
 
IanM said:
Western games have always pinched, recycled and reinterpreted ideas from other games. I think the hate for Zynga is that they do it in such a wholesale, literal and extreme way. They're basically a factory churning out copies of other games that they use as a design template, with only minor changes to the art.
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If they copied the content, then there may be grounds for copyright infringement. With the right kind of jury, they could win. As with the music business, if you copy the lyrics and some musical arrangements then the same could occur.

After you have been around a while, you end up seeing & hearing the same bits as you have seen somewhere before. You end up looking at the World that way.
 
I think you are missing something here. Zynga doesn't just copy. They copy the very base game - all the add on's and extras are all "Pay to Play". You want a new shirt for your sim.... I mean, VillePlayer? $1.99 and it's yours! Micro-payments.

EA is just pissed they couldn't get away with that.

Although, I am with EA on this one. It's WAY too similar to Sims for comfort. I'm not one for lawsuits, etc., but this is definitely a direct rip-off.
 
Wasn't Zynga the same company that made like Mafia Wars and Street Racer? All those "stat" based games are EXACTLY the same game just with different themes.

You know you've got into a bad place when you are copying your goddamn games! :p
 
Demon10000 said:
Can't buy'em, sue'em!
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Dude, are you for real? Do you know what's goin on here?

Anyways I'm glad EA is going for the Smackdown on those jerks. It's about time just like EDGE's Tim Langlel or whatever that troll's name is. They tool him down and his shady shit. Hope they can smack some justice to Zynga.
 
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus did say in a leaked internal memo before, “You’re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.”
 
Red Squirrel said:
I hate the concept of lawsuits, patents, copyright and all that bullshit. Who freaking cares if it looks similar. Why should there only be one of everything? This is just stupid.
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Because Zynga shouldn't exist, so you know. Sometimes it's useful.
 
It sounds like this is a failure on EA's part to hit the price points that Zynga is hitting. Regardless of my feelings (dislike) of EA or Zynga, a ruling in favor of EA on this matter would set a far more damaging precedent for gamers.

Can you all seriously imagine how terrible it would be if EA could reliably (or even legitimately threaten) to pull an Apple in the gaming industry? New games that are a modification on an old formula but have new features would have to 'license' IP from EA.
 
aero449 said:
It sounds like this is a failure on EA's part to hit the price points that Zynga is hitting. Regardless of my feelings (dislike) of EA or Zynga, a ruling in favor of EA on this matter would set a far more damaging precedent for gamers.

Can you all seriously imagine how terrible it would be if EA could reliably (or even legitimately threaten) to pull an Apple in the gaming industry? New games that are a modification on an old formula but have new features would have to 'license' IP from EA.
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It's dangerous yes, but really this isn't one of those hey look here's the most basic patent of the look and feel of a rectangle and everyone else is making rectangles! Not fair!

Zynga has a reputation in the industry for copying everybody else in existence, literally, it's what they are known for. They can practically put it on their business cards.
 
aero449 said:
It sounds like this is a failure on EA's part to hit the price points that Zynga is hitting. Regardless of my feelings (dislike) of EA or Zynga, a ruling in favor of EA on this matter would set a far more damaging precedent for gamers.

Can you all seriously imagine how terrible it would be if EA could reliably (or even legitimately threaten) to pull an Apple in the gaming industry? New games that are a modification on an old formula but have new features would have to 'license' IP from EA.
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Very true, as much as I'd like to see Zynga brought down a notch, this would be an awful precedent.

On second thought, I call first dibs on "1st person modern military shooters". :p
 
How is getting rid of Zynga a bad thing? All they make is shitty facebook games that shouldn't even count as PC games.
 
Who is going to sue Gameloft? "Modern Combat" aka Modern Warfare or NOVA aka Halo etc etc...Zynga isn't the only copy cat out there!
 
Isn't the Sims merely a game that tries to replicate an individual's life in an arcade style?

Zynga can claim they too are making a game for players to control a virtual character in a virtual world that is meant to replicate our real world. Surely no one can claim any copyright to real life.

Its like both Microsoft's Flight Sim and X-Planes or DCS's flight sim. Neither can claim they own the rights to flight simulation and sue everyone else who makes a flight sim game.
 
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