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EA/Maxis Sue Zynga for Copyright Infringement

H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Fersis said:
Some of the screenshots in the complaint are pretty crazy.
Check the picture about 'personalities' in page 16
Click to expand...

Dude.

ibe1l1sXiK9lEX.PNG
 
D

Delusibeta

Banned
Derrick01 said:
Right. Like I said it's ok with EA as long as it's not too obvious.
Click to expand...

There's a legal concept, typically used in UK law with regards to copyright infringement called "A Moron In A Hurry", whereby the argument against copyright infringement that even the aforementioned moron in a hurry would not confuse the two. EA's games tend to pass this test, while Zynga's games fail on a regular basis.
 
J

Joni

Member
I don't see how EA is even remotely comparable to Zynga. Yes, EA games are inspired by others. There would be no Dead Space without Resident Evil, no Dante's Inferno without God of War. They however aren't copies and are games in their own right. They are no different from the standard game publisher which does employ a lot of people who played games and will be influenced by them. The people at Visceral wanted to make a hack & slash because they enjoyed stuff like GoW, but put their own spin on it. Zynga just copies everything. Dante's Inferno wasn't a game where you played with a guy named Kratos that wanted to beat the Olympian God Ares because he made him murder his wife. It would have been if Zynga had made it.
 
S

Smashing Drive

Banned
I have a lot more respect for EA. Zynga is just using the gameloft model of copy every popular game and make it your own. they probably didnt even realize they were doing anything wrong.
 
G

Game Guru

Member
It might be actually hard for Zynga to lose this case, since EA can't simply rely on the copying game mechanics and visual cues that are inherent to the genre. We've got to remember that the genre of both The Sims and The Ville is a life simulator, so many of the art assets inherent to the genre are based on real life or common pictorial representations, and Zynga has notably avoided any truly unique elements of EA's game in its own.

EA and Zynga will settle, most likely.

EDIT: While that skin tone comparison is damning, how much do skin tone choices actually vary among video games in general?
 
bumpkin

bumpkin

Member
BigJiantRobut said:
That's what the section where you list out the remedy you are seeking is called, in all cases like this (it is a funny title these days though).
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wasn't saying it was funny in the sense of not knowing what it was for. I just meant that it's funny given Zynga's current stock woes coupled with being sued. :)
 
T

Trigger

Member
Game Guru said:
It might be actually hard for Zynga to lose this case, since EA can't simply rely on the copying game mechanics and visual cues that are inherent to the genre. We've got to remember that the genre of both The Sims and The Ville is a life simulator, so many of the art assets inherent to the genre are based on real life or common pictorial representations, and Zynga has notably avoided any truly unique elements of EA's game in its own.

EA and Zynga will settle, most likely.

EDIT: While that skin tone comparison is damning, how much do skin tone choices actually vary among video games in general?
Click to expand...

There are probably overall similarities, but identical values? Smells a little fishy.
 
Liberty4all

Liberty4all

Banned
Here is another article outling what's happening: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-5...ynga-alleges-the-ville-is-sims-social-ripoff/

Zynga denied the allegation in a statement today, adding a dig at EA by saying that another EA game "SimCity Social" is similar to Zynga's "CityVille" game.
"The Ville is the newest game in our 'ville' franchise -- it builds on every major innovation from our existing invest-and-express games dating back to YoVille and continuing through CityVille and CastleVille, and introduces a number of new social features and game mechanics not seen in social games today," Zynga's General Counsel Reggie Davis said in a statement sent to CNET. "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. Nonetheless, we plan to defend our rights to the fullest extent possible and intend to win with players."
Click to expand...

Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of EA's Maxis Label, said in an EA blog post that there are "unmistakable" similarities between the two including design choices, animations, visual arrangements, and character motions and action.
"The copying was so comprehensive that the two games are, to an uninitiated observer, largely indistinguishable. Scores of media and bloggers commented on the blatant mimicry," she wrote in the blog."This is a case of principle. 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. Infringing a developer's copyright is not an acceptable practice in game development. 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.
Click to expand...
 
T

tuffy

Member
Game Guru said:
EDIT: While that skin tone comparison is damning, how much do skin tone choices actually vary among video games in general?
Click to expand...
Though it's clear the values were copied directly, Zynga might argue that skin tone colors can't be copyrighted. It's not the slam-dunk an exactly copied image would be.
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
Game Guru said:
EDIT: While that skin tone comparison is damning, how much do skin tone choices actually vary among video games in general?
Click to expand...

Exact values is pretty crazy for a coincidence. Eyeballing a color and reproducing the exact same value is pretty unlikely, eyeballing several colors and reproducing them exactly would require some kind of RGB savant.
 
S

Subitai

Member
So EA is the T-Rex and Zynga and Gameloft are the Velociraptors right?

Part of me thinks that Zynga is devious enough to have known better than to rip off a key property of one of the big players. Guess things are getting desperate.
 
C

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
tuffy said:
Though it's clear the values were copied directly, Zynga might argue that skin tone colors can't be copyrighted. It's not the slam-dunk an exactly copied image would be.
Click to expand...

That's not really a defense. EA isn't claiming to own any copyright in the skin colors.
 
B

Bedlam

Member
Okay, the skin tone comparison is pretty obvious... Zynga will probably be forced to change this (pretty easy, maybe they've already done that).

Everything else I'm seeing here is imitation and as shameful as it is, it's not copyright infringement.
 
G

Game Guru

Member
Trigger said:
There are probably overall similarities, but identical values? Smells a little fishy.
Click to expand...

That's only what EA claims... It would have to be proven that the skintone colors of both games are indeed the exact same RGB values and how likely said values for those colors would appear. That would require an in-depth look into those values of both games as well as the values for skintone in other games. For all we know, the RGB values for skintone in both games could in fact be holdovers from the NES-era where there was only one color for 'peach' and another for 'brown' because of technical limitations.

I mean, I'm not saying Zynga didn't copy, but this isn't as much of a slam dunk case as we might like.
 
C

charsace

Member
Smashing Drive said:
I have to say EA and Zynga deserve each other.
Click to expand...

Why would you say this? One company rips off other games while one doesn't.


Game Guru said:
It might be actually hard for Zynga to lose this case, since EA can't simply rely on the copying game mechanics and visual cues that are inherent to the genre. We've got to remember that the genre of both The Sims and The Ville is a life simulator, so many of the art assets inherent to the genre are based on real life or common pictorial representations, and Zynga has notably avoided any truly unique elements of EA's game in its own.

EA and Zynga will settle, most likely.

EDIT: While that skin tone comparison is damning, how much do skin tone choices actually vary among video games in general?
Click to expand...
There's been millions of colors for a long time. You can go into paint.net right now and find a ton of colors that look the same, but have different saturation and brightness.
 
A

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
7hcOp.jpg


The skin tone picture seems to really knock it out but this picture stood out for me. I ended up quitting Zynga games 1 week ago. They started flooding my FB page with requests and posts. Just was too annoying. I played the ville and looking at the pictures for the sims, you know they ripped someone off, yet again. All of their major games have been 'inspired' by another company. It's not sustainable. This is the one company we should hope gets shut down.
 
B

Blitzzz

Member
That complaint document is actually a pretty good read on it's own. The research done on the past games Zynga has copied could have been an article if fleshed out a bit more.

edit: I hope Zynga gets wiped off the face of the earth. They were already doing a great job of it themselves before this.
 
I

inky

Member
DJ Crimson said:
I have no idea if this has already been responded to. But UbiSoft actually owns Gamelot.
Click to expand...

I don't think they do anymore. They had a stake on it, so maybe they still do but I'm fairly certain they don't own it anymore. It was founded by current Ubisoft's CEO brother, so that's why they cooperate a lot with them as well.
 
S

Shining Sunshine

Banned
Blitzzz said:
That complaint document is actually a pretty good read on it's own. The research done on the past games Zynga has copied could have been an article if fleshed out a bit more.

edit: I hope Zynga gets wiped off the face of the earth. They were already doing a great job of it themselves before this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems like EA is fighting for all the small companies that couldn't fight for themselves.

They made visual reference to Slashkey's Farmtown, Nimblebit's Tiny Towers, Buffalo Studios' Bingo Blitz.
 
B

Blitzzz

Member
Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of EA's Maxis Label, said in an EA blog post that there are "unmistakable" similarities between the two including design choices, animations, visual arrangements, and character motions and action.
"The copying was so comprehensive that the two games are, to an uninitiated observer, largely indistinguishable. Scores of media and bloggers commented on the blatant mimicry," she wrote in the blog."This is a case of principle. 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. Infringing a developer's copyright is not an acceptable practice in game development. 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.
Click to expand...

damn, if she was working for Valve, this quote would have catapulted her to god status
 
L

Leonsito

Member
I hate Zynga, but I don't like this demands regarding software, but to be honest, after the Zynga tower game that was exactly a ripoff of Tiny Tower, they deserve to lose.
 
C

Culex

Banned
EA v. Edge has been going on for 3 years, so unless this is settled out of court, it's going to be REALLY long and expensive for both sides.
 
P

Pyronite

Member
cpp_is_king said:
umm... wait, are you serious?
Click to expand...

cpp_is_king said:
So basically you're calling out EA, even though the similarities between ToR and WoW are no more than the similiarities between:

Practically any two RTS games
Practically any two FPS games
Practically any two side scrollers
Practically any two fighting games
Practically any two JRPGs

Do I need to keep going? Seriously, take off the jade glasses for a second, when people who already hate EA are telling you that your criticism is unjustified, you know you've probably fallen off the hate cliff and landed in the 9th circle of the looney bin.
Click to expand...

Glad to see Derrick01 gettin the "it's fun to be contrarian" smackdown he has long deserved.
 
T

Takuan

Member
Damn, what timing. EA looking to finish Zynga while they're weak.

I'm going to check out Tiny Tower once I get on WiFi. The pixel art is adorable.
 
demigod

demigod

Member
BrokenEchelon said:
I was hoping you'd bring up World of WarCraft.

EverQuest_Coverart.png


WoW owes a great deal to that game.

BioWare obviously copied the basic formula of the "first-generation" style MMO which EverQuest and Ultima created, but it also offered different features and design systems that WoW didn't.
Click to expand...

You're fast. I can't believe *anyone* would say ToR is a ripoff of WoW when WoW was a huge ripoff of EQ.
 
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