Zynga Sues EA For 'Anti-competitive' Practices 116
An anonymous reader writes "In early August, Electronic Arts sued Zynga for allegedly copying EA's Sims Social game. Zynga has now launched a counterattack, suing EA for 'anticompetitive and unlawful business practices, including legal threats and demands for no-hire agreements.' The company also accuses EA of copying a Zynga game called YoVille. Zynga has also demanded a jury trial to settle EA's claims."
Re:EA vs Zynga (Score:4, Insightful)
Who's side are we supposed to be on?
Battle for Wesnoth's LOL
Re:EA vs Zynga (Score:2, Insightful)
Good question. Certainly neither party to the lawsuit, and most definitely not with the lawyers. I'd have to say hope for all three to lose?
Re:My choice (Score:5, Insightful)
This is one of the few times where I'll be cheering for the lawyers to suck as much money out of both of them as possible.
Re:My choice (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorta like watching Stalin go after Hitler. You want Stalin to win, but not win by too much.
Maybe, with little luck, Zynga can get stomped into oblivion (SCO-style would be nice), and EA loses so much money chasing it that they themselves are diminished to the point of leaving an opening for other companies.
But then there's Ubisoft. Is there anyway we can get Ubisoft involved in this too? Then maybe we can pray that they all obliterate each other.
Horse race journalism considered harmful (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Zynga hahahahah (Score:2, Insightful)
Gameplay mechanics can not be copyrighted.
Re:Zynga hahahahah (Score:5, Insightful)
How close were Zynga's copies
Pretty close to adding a mustache to the mona lisa and calling it an original work of art.
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Re:Zynga hahahahah (Score:2, Insightful)
Is it not an original work of art?
That's kind of a bad example because art is all about perception and some sort of statement from the artist. Would you say Andy Warhol was infringing upon Campbell's IP?
Just what exactly makes something original? I would actually claim that the work of art you propose is original because it is striking and thought provoking. It's the Mona Lisa, but why does she have a stache? Why are there 10 pictures in a row? Why does this one have a goatee?
In Zynga's case so much was copied, most people would put in the high 90's as a percentage, it is hard to claim any kind of originality, or even attempt at originality in their work.
However, just how many ways can you abstract a simulated environment in such cartoonish ways? While Zynga clearly needs to get bent over by the courts and a proper financial ass reaming, we should still be careful on just how broad of a protection we give works like this. Especially, when originality as far as art is concerned is so amazingly subjective.